Germany v. Hudspeth
| Decision Date | 14 January 1954 |
| Docket Number | No. 4717.,4717. |
| Citation | 209 F.2d 15 |
| Parties | GERMANY v. HUDSPETH. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Elisha Scott, John J. Scott and Charles S. Scott, Topeka, Kan., for appellant.
Paul E. Wilson, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State of Kansas (Harold R. Fatzer, Atty. Gen., of the State of Kansas, and Donald E. Martin, County Atty., Kansas City, Kan., on the brief, for appellee.
Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, and BRATTON and HUXMAN, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from the judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas in a habeas corpus proceeding, denying appellant, Nathaniel Germany, any relief from the death sentence imposed upon him by a District Judge of Wyandotte County, Kansas, upon the verdict of a jury in a criminal case in which he was found guilty of murder in the first degree.
The facts concerning which there is no dispute may be stated as follows: Appellant was arrested by the city police at his home in Kansas City, Kansas, at about five p. m. on October 30, 1947, in connection with the investigation of the homicide of David W. Gray. He was forthwith taken to police headquarters where he was booked and placed in confinement. Thereafter, commencing about eight thirty, he was interrogated by officers of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department. At this time he was not advised of his constitutional rights. This interrogation continued until about eleven or eleven thirty. During the latter part of the interrogation, petitioner's uncle, Educate Germany, was present. Some time between eleven and twelve o'clock p. m. appellant orally admitted the homicide of Gray. In this admission, he stated where he had hidden the gun. Immediately upon such admission, Lt. Joseph Shick of the Kansas Police Department, who had been interrogating him, suggested that they go to the scene of the crime and recover the gun. Appellant voluntarily accompanied Shick and other officers to the place and searched for the gun approximately one and one-half hours but was unable to locate it and it was not found at that time. At this time appellant and his uncle, Educate Germany, were taken back to police headquarters where he was interrogated by the county attorney, commencing about three o'clock a. m. on October 31, 1947. He was advised by the county attorney of his constitutional rights; that he was not required to make a statement and that what he said could be used against him. The questions and answers were taken in shorthand by a stenographer in the county attorney's office and subsequently reduced to writing. A written statement was approved and signed by Germany at about nine a. m. on October 31, 1947, and was used and received in evidence in his criminal trial. The total period of appellant's interrogation did not exceed six to six and one-half hours, which interrogation occurred at three separate and distinct intervals. During the time of such interrogation, appellant was given coffee and ice cream and at intervals was permitted to rest and smoke. No promises of leniency or other inducements were made to Germany prior to making his confession.
On October 31, 1947, the county attorney of Wyandotte County, Kansas, filed a complaint, charging appellant with first degree murder, upon which a warrant was issued and he was arrested on November 21, 1947. Preliminary examination was had and he was bound over for trial in the District Court of Wyandotte County, Kansas. On November 26, 1947, the county attorney filed an information, charging appellant with murder in the first degree. Thereafter, on January 19, 1948, an application was made by petitioner Germany through his own selected counsel that a commission, as provided for by the laws of Kansas, consisting of three medical doctors and specialists in the field of psychiatry be appointed to examine the petitioner and report to the court its findings as to his mental condition, his capacity to comprehend his position and to make his defense in the case. On January 23, 1948, the commission reported in writing to the court its findings, finding that appellant was then insane and was not able to comprehend his position and to make his defense to the charge informed against him. Thereafter, on January 23, 1948, these written findings were approved and the report was confirmed by the District Court of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and in accordance with Section 62-1531 of the 1935 General Statutes of Kansas he was committed to the hospital for the dangerously insane at Larned, Kansas, for safekeeping and treatment. Petitioner was detained in the Larned State Hospital from about January 23, 1948, until about November 25, 1950, during which time he received appropriate treatment by the staff. Thereafter he was delivered to the custody of the Sheriff of Wyandotte County by the Hospital authorities, who again removed him to the county jail of Wyandotte County, Kansas. On January 3, 1951, petitioner filed a second application requesting the appointment of a second medical commission to re-examine him as to his mental condition, his capacity to comprehend his position and to make his defense to the charge lodged against him in court. This application was granted. Such a commission was appointed and filed its report in court, finding that appellant was sane, was able to comprehend his position and make his defense for the crime of murder. In due course of time and without undue delay, thereafter, he was tried, found guilty and sentenced to death. He appealed to the Supreme Court of Kansas,1 where his conviction was affirmed. His application for certiorari to the Supreme Court was denied.2
Thereafter he instituted this proceeding in the district court, alleging that the judgment was void because of violations of his federally guaranteed constitutional rights. While as found by the trial court in this case the allegations of the petition were broad, in the main it presented two questions, first, that his written confession was obtained by threats and violence and its use was, therefore, in violation of rights guaranteed by the federal constitution and, second, that notwithstanding the first finding by the commission of experts, he was not insane at the time of his commitment to the State Hospital for Dangerous Insane; hence his detention there from January 23, 1948, to November 11, 1950, denied petitioner a speedy trial, in violation of the Sixth Amendment to the Federal Constitution and subjected him to cruel and unusual punishment. A third contention somewhat involved in the preceding is made that the District Court of Wyandotte County, Kansas, was without jurisdiction to try defendant because of Section 62-1431, General Statutes of 1949, which provides, "If any person under indictment or information for any offense, and committed to prison, shall not be brought to trial before the end of the second term of the court having jurisdiction of the offense which shall be held after such indictment found or information filed, he shall be entitled to be discharged so far as relates to the offense for which he was committed, unless the delay shall happen on the application of the prisoner, or shall be occasioned by the want of time to try the cause at such second term."
When this proceeding was set for trial before the district court, it was established that appellant had not exhausted his state remedies because he had failed to file a habeas corpus proceeding in the Supreme Court of the State of Kansas, raising these questions. The court below stayed the proceeding to give appellant the opportunity to exhaust such additional remedy by filing a state habeas corpus action. Such an action was filed directly in the Supreme Court of Kansas and on February 5, 1953, the application for the writ was denied.3
The opinion of the Supreme Court of Kansas in the habeas corpus case is quite brief and general in its statements and does not clearly reflect the issues presented or considered by the court. But no doubt the issues that were present here were likewise involved in that case because it was to permit appellant to exhaust his remedies in the state court that this case was stayed.
The trial court found that at the...
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