Dawson v. Peyton, 10313.
| Decision Date | 08 April 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 10313.,10313. |
| Citation | 359 F.2d 149 |
| Parties | Edgar W. DAWSON, Appellant, v. C. C. PEYTON, Superintendent of the Virginia State Penitentiary, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
R. Larry Lambert, Norfolk, Va. (Court-assigned counsel), (Preston & Preston, Norfolk, Va., on brief), for appellant.
Reno S. Harp, III, Asst. Atty. Gen. of Virginia (Robert Y. Button, Atty. Gen. of Virginia, on brief), for appellee.
Before SOBELOFF and BELL, Circuit Judges, and HUTCHESON, District Judge.
This is a petition for habeas corpus filed in forma pauperis in the District Court at Norfolk by Petitioner who is an inmate of the Virginia State Penitentiary. Petitioner complains of a conviction in the Circuit Court of Greene County, Virginia on September 18, 1961. He alleges that he was arrested and placed in jail without a warrant, that he was not apprehended at the scene of the crime; that he was held incommunicado, that he was not allowed to communicate with his relatives, that he was interrogated "to the extreme" and not allowed to call an attorney. He alleges further that two weeks later he was given a preliminary hearing and allowed counsel; that he did not again see this attorney until after his conviction. When he was brought to trial his attorney did not appear; he alleges that the court refused to continue the trial until his personally employed attorney was present and appointed an attorney to represent Petitioner within the same hour he was convicted. It was further alleged that court appointed counsel was not on friendly terms with Petitioner's father, which fact counsel made known to him; that Petitioner was abused and cursed by the last mentioned attorney who did not say one word in behalf of Petitioner. It is further contended that upon his arrest, Petitioner's automobile was seized and confiscated along with radio, gun and other properties belonging to him; that he was not compensated for those items and they were not returned to him. So much for the allegations set forth in the petition which was filed pro se and verified.
Petitioner has heretofore applied for a writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court of Greene County which was denied. Upon appeal, the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia reversed the Circuit Court, following which there was a hearing in that Court on March 21, 1963 when the writ was again denied. Thereupon, this application was filed on October 6, 1964 in the United States District Court at Norfolk, before which a hearing was held on July 1, 1965, when Petitioner was present with counsel appointed by the District Court. Transcript of the proceedings before the Circuit Court of Greene County and the United States District Court at Norfolk were filed as parts of the record.
These transcripts reveal facts strikingly at variance with the allegations contained in the petition. The witnesses at both hearings consisted of Petitioner, his parents and David F. Berry, Esquire, of Madison, Virginia, counsel appointed by the Circuit Court of Greene County to represent Petitioner, who also maintains an office for the practice of law at Standardsville, the county seat of Greene County.
From that testimony, the following pertinent facts emerge. Petitioner and three other individuals were charged with breaking and entering two business establishments in Greene County, Virginia on the 18th and 26th of June, 1961 respectively and of the larceny of certain personal property. They were confined in the Albemarle County jail at Charlottesville until the morning of the trial. These offenses were a part of a series of such activities on the part of Petitioner and his associates, including acts in Albemarle County. An attorney in Charlottesville had been retained to represent Petitioner in connection with charges pending in Albemarle County.
On the morning of the trial, the Honorable C. Champion Bowles, Judge of the 9th Judicial Circuit who resides in Goochland, was sitting in Greene by designation in the absence of Honorable Lyttleton Waddell of Charlottesville, Judge of the Circuit Court of Albemarle, Madison and Greene Counties. Judge Bowles appointed Mr. Berry to represent all the defendants. After making inquiry, Mr. Berry realized there would be a conflict of interest. He reported this to the Court who thereupon appointed other counsel for the other defendants. Mr. Berry...
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Moore v. United States
...in the case itself which may disclose that the representation was adequate despite the lateness of the appointment, as in Dawson v. Peyton, 359 F.2d 149 (4 Cir. 1966). We are aware of no continuing practice of belatedly appointing counsel in the state courts in this Circuit, and in the larg......
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United States v. Mullen
...Commonwealth, 158 Va. 897, 164 S.E. 400. What was said by Judge Dalton in Dawson v. Peyton, 246 F.Supp. 444 (E.D. Va.1965), affirmed 4 Cir., 359 F.2d 149, is particularly applicable "* * * whether you be the ringleader or whether you are aiding and abetting the principal in the commission o......
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Rastrom v. Robbins
...Megantz v. Ash, supra; United States ex rel. Chambers v. Maroney, supra; United States ex rel. Mathis v. Rundle, supra; Dawson v. Peyton, 359 F.2d 149 (4th Cir.1966); Baldwin v. United States, 260 F.2d 117 (4th Cir.1958); Channell v. Coiner, 297 F.Supp. 1005 (N.D.W.Va. 1969). These cases, h......
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Jordan v. Slayton, Civ. A. No. 71-C-111-R.
...that an accused was not prejudiced despite the lack of time for preparation. Fields v. Peyton, supra, at 626 of 375 F.2d; Dawson v. Peyton, 359 F.2d 149 (4th Cir. 1966); Turner v. State of Maryland, 318 F.2d 852 (4th Cir. 1963). The court feels, however, that the Fields presumption no longe......