Galarza Cruz v. Delgado

• Decision Date: 30 September 1964
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 260.
• Citation: 233 F. Supp. 944
• Parties: Narciso GALARZA CRUZ, Petitioner v. Gerardo DELGADO, Warden, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

233 F. Supp. 944

Narciso GALARZA CRUZ, Petitioner v. Gerardo DELGADO, Warden, Respondent.

Civ. No. 260.

United States District Court D. Puerto Rico.

September 30, 1964.

Juan R. Torruella, San Juan, P. R., for petitioner.

Noel González Reichard, Dept. of Justice, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, San Juan, P. R., for respondent.

RUIZ-NAZARIO, Chief Judge.

1. The petitioner, Narciso Galarza Cruz is of full age, and a citizen of the United States, residing in Puerto Rico.

2. The respondent, Gerardo Delgado is also of full age, United States citizen, resident of Puerto Rico, and is the Warden of the Penitentiary of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

3. The petitioner is detained at said penitentiary, under the custody of the respondent, serving a sentence for the alleged commission of the crime of murder in the First Degree, imposed by the Superior Court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla Part, entered on September 16, 1957, in Criminal Action No. G 57-1.

4. In the early evening of Friday, September 28th 1956, the body of one Dionisio Cruz Montalvo, a/k/a "Juancito", showing contusions on the back of the head and face, was found by residents of the Ward (Barrio) of Altosano of the Municipality of San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, on a trail in said ward. This fact was reported to the local police forces of said Municipality and the body of the wounded "Juancito" was carried in a hammock to the city hospital of San Sebastián.

That same evening, police officers visited the Altosano Ward (Barrio) to investigate the event. They interrogated or interviewed several citizens of the neighborhood, particularly the members of the wounded person's family. They were told who were the persons who had found the victim. These were interviewed and they turned over to the police officers a cudgel, about 27 inches long by 2 to 4 inches in diameter, smeared with blood and having human hairs adhered to it. The police officers were also informed that the victim was about 65 years old, near-sighted, used to carry large sums of money on his person, had no known vices; and had no known enemies; that probably the motive for the aggression was robbery, since the pockets of the victim's trousers were turned out and empty. With the above information at hand, the police contacted the District Judge of San Sebastián, the Hon. Herminio Rodríguez Quiñones, who ordered that all persons interviewed by the police be summoned to appear before him at the District Court House on Saturday, September 29, 1956, at 9:00 A.M.

On Saturday, September 29, 1956, the aforesaid Judge proceeded, at the Court House, to interrogate eight persons who had been summoned by the police. The petitioner herein, Narciso Galarza Cruz did not figure among those eight persons, but he was present at the Court House on said occasion. By that time, one Sixto Cruz Valentín, a cousin of the petitioner, had identified the petitioner Narciso Galarza Cruz as the person who had assaulted and attacked Dionisio Cruz Montalvo, a/k/a "Juancito", the victim. The judge then sent for petitioner, who at that time was around the Court House and proceeded to interrogate him. (See Respondent's return to the Writ of Habeas Corpus, filed August 26, 1964, part VI pages 2 and 4. Emphasis supplied).

5. Petitioner herein appeared before the aforesaid Hon. Herminio Rodríguez Quiñones, District Judge of San Sebastián, on said Saturday, September 29, 1956, and upon "being advised of the right that, as defendant in this case, he had to testify or not, and that if he testified, the statement there made could be used against him at the trial", he then answered questions relative to the alleged crime, disclaiming all participation in the same. Although he was mentioned or characterized as the accused or defendant in the case, he was never advised, while he was being thus interrogated, of his constitutional right to be assisted by counsel. (See Exh. 1 Petitioner). (Emphasis supplied.)

Judge Herminio Rodríguez Quiñones, who testified as a witness for the respondent at the hearing herein, conceded that he gave no advice to the petitioner of his right to counsel while interrogating him on September 29, 1956.

6. On the next day, i. e., September 30, 1956, the same judge issued a warrant for the arrest of petitioner herein, as defendant or accused, charging him with assault with intent to commit murder, setting a $5,000.00 bail bond, petitioner having been committed to the Aguadilla District Jail on that same date. (See Respondent's return filed August 26, 1964, pages 4 and 5, and Exh. D attached thereto).

In said Exhibit D, which is the warrant of arrest, petitioner herein, Narciso Galarza Cruz figures as the only accused or defendant in the case.

7. On October 8, 1956, while the petitioner herein remained confined in the Aguadilla District Jail pursuant to the warrant of arrest (Exh. D) referred in Finding 6 above, Police Corporal Luis A. Delgado was directed to transfer and did transfer him from said jail to the office of the Hon. Herminio Rodríguez Quiñones, District Judge of San Sebastián for further interrogation.

He was then questioned by the Judge and a sworn statement or confession was extracted from him without at any time advising him of his constitutional right to be assisted by counsel at that stage of the proceedings. (See Exh. 1 Respondent). Nowhere in said Exhibit does it appear that any such advice was given to the petitioner. The judge, in his testimony before this Court, admitted that he did not give petitioner any such advice. The police officer who typed said statement and was a witness at the hearing herein also admitted that no such advice had been given to the petitioner either prior to the taking of said statement or while it was being taken, or at any other time whatsoever.

8. As a result of the confession referred to in Finding 7 above, Judge Rodríguez Quiñones, on the same date, October 8, 1956, issued a warrant for the arrest of petitioner, and one Bartolo Muñíz Rodríguez, charging both of them with "attempt to commit Murder, and Robbery", bail being set in the sum of $5,000.00 for each of said counts.

9. The victim, Dionisio Cruz Montalvo, having died on October 13, 1956, Judge Rodríguez Quiñones issued, on the same date, another warrant for the arrest of the petitioner and of Bartolo Muñíz Rodríguez, charging both of them and one Enrique López, with first degree murder and setting bail in the amount of $10,000.00 as to each of them. Both were arrested that same evening and taken to the Aguadilla District Jail.

Up to this time, no advice whatsoever as to his right to have the assistance of counsel had been given to petitioner and no counsel whatsoever had actually seen or in any way assisted him, nor does it appear that he had any knowledge whatsoever of what the aid of counsel means to a person charged with crime.

10. Petitioner at the time of the happening of the above events was, as he had always been, a farm laborer. He was 61½ inches tall, and weighed 122½ lbs. He had never gone to school, did not know how to read or write. He lived in the Altosano Ward, a rural section at 1½ hours walking distance from the town of San Sebastián. He went to town only once a week, worked the hoe, cut cane and cultivated minor crops, earning around $3.50 for 8 hours at work per day. Nobody told him that he had the right to counsel. The first time he saw an attorney was when he was taken to the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla Part, for arraignment.

11. The jury trial of the petitioner herein and of the two other co-defendants in the case, was held in the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla Part, commencing on September 10, 1957. Franco Tulio Sánchez, Esq., was the Court appointed attorney for the petitioner herein and his co-defendant, Enrique López Ortiz.

12. The alleged confession extracted from the petitioner herein on October 8, 1956, while being questioned as a defendant by the Hon. Herminio Rodríguez Quiñones, District Judge of San Sebastián, without defendant being then assisted by counsel, was introduced and admitted in evidence at said trial.

13. Moreover, the judge, who presided at the trial upon admitting said alleged confession in evidence against the opposition of the defendants based on involuntariness, instructed the jury as follows: "If after considering all the evidence in the case you believe that these confessions (he was also referring to confessions of the other defendants, Bartolo Muñíz Rodríguez and Enrique López Ortiz), or any one of them is...