Goodroad v. Solem, 15403

Decision Date18 February 1987
Docket NumberNo. 15403,15403
Citation406 N.W.2d 141
PartiesDanny D. GOODROAD, Petitioner and Appellant, v. Herman SOLEM, Warden, South Dakota State Penitentiary, Respondent and Appellee. . Considered on Briefs
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court

Scott G. Hoy of Swanson, Carlsen, Carter, Hoy & Anderson, Sioux Falls, for petitioner and appellant.

Robert Mayer, Asst. Atty. Gen., Pierre, for respondent and appellee; Mark V. Meierhenry, Atty. Gen., Pierre, on brief.

MORGAN, Justice.

Danny D. Goodroad (Goodroad) initiated this habeas corpus action against Herman Solem (Solem), Warden of the South Dakota State Penitentiary, on February 6, 1984. On November 8, 1985, the trial court signed findings of fact and conclusions of law in favor of Solem and against Goodroad. Goodroad applied for a certificate of probable cause on May 20, 1986. 1 The trial court certified the issue of probable cause for appeal on May 27, 1986. We have reviewed the denial of the habeas corpus petition and affirm the trial court.

Goodroad was arrested on March 24, 1983, at a retail store and was charged with theft by deception, a Class 1 misdemeanor. Shortly thereafter, the charge was changed to second degree burglary and the misdemeanor charge was dismissed. The time of the commission of the burglary, according to the police report, was 7:55 p.m.

Shortly after his confinement, Goodroad came in contact with Danny Reeves (Reeves). Reeves made damaging admissions to Goodroad about certain crimes committed by Reeves. Goodroad passed this information along to his attorney, who in turn passed the information along to law enforcement personnel. In taking this action, Goodroad hoped to receive leniency from the authorities. Shortly after Goodroad's information was received, the state's attorney filed an information against Reeves, disclosing Goodroad as a witness. Goodroad was thereafter segregated from the general jail population because Reeves had made threats against Goodroad's life. From April 8, 1983, until he pleaded guilty on May 23, 1983, Goodroad remained segregated from the prison population. At one point, on the day before his plea, Goodroad was placed in what was known as the "pink room" which was essentially a holding cell, having no facilities or running water, and only a bare mattress on the floor.

The record indicates Goodroad was placed in the pink room because he was a suicide risk. Goodroad admitted telling his attorney that he was suicidal. Suicide notes and razor blades were found in Goodroad's belongings. It was regular policy to put suicidal prisoners in the pink room where they received increased supervision.

Goodroad raises two issues on appeal. Initially, he claims that his guilty plea was induced by his treatment at the Brown County Jail, thus making the plea involuntary and a violation of due process. Secondly, Goodroad contends that he did not fully understand the crime with which he was charged, and that there was an insufficient factual basis to find him guilty of the offense charged.

In view of the ever-increasing number of habeas corpus petitions, and bearing in mind that the legislature recently enacted and then repealed the Uniform Post-Conviction Procedures Act, we believe a general review of the availability of habeas corpus relief is in order.

We have said many times in the past, the scope of review in habeas corpus proceedings is limited, since the remedy is in the nature of a collateral attack upon a final judgment. Application of Williams, 86 S.D. 208, 193 N.W.2d 793 (1972); Application of Kiser, 83 S.D. 272, 158 N.W.2d 596 (1968); State ex rel. Burns v. Erickson, 80 S.D. 639, 129 N.W.2d 712 (1964); State ex rel. Anderson v. Jameson, 51 S.D. 540, 215 N.W. 697 (1927). "Habeas corpus cannot be utilized as a substitute for an appeal." State ex rel. Smith v. Jameson, 70 S.D. 503, 507, 19 N.W.2d 505, 507 (1945). Security Sav. Bank v. Mueller, 308 N.W.2d 761 (S.D.1981); Application of Williams, supra; State ex rel. Burns, supra; State ex rel. Ruffing v. Jameson, 80 S.D. 362, 123 N.W.2d 654 (1963); State v. Circuit Court for Grant and Day Counties, 69 S.D. 454, 11 N.W.2d 659 (1943); State ex rel. Anderson, supra. Habeas corpus is not the proper remedy to correct irregular procedures, rather, in the context of post-conviction attacks on the conviction itself, habeas corpus reaches only jurisdictional error. SDCL 21-27-16; State ex rel. Burke v. Erickson, 84 S.D. 487, 173 N.W.2d 44 (1969); State ex rel. Pekarek v. Erickson, 83 S.D. 79, 155 N.W.2d 313 (1967); State ex rel. Burns, supra; State ex rel. Medicine Horn v. Jameson, 78 S.D. 282, 100 N.W.2d 829 (1960); State ex rel. Smith, supra; State v. King, 62 S.D. 184, 252 N.W. 36 (1934); Nelson v. Foley, 54 S.D. 382, 223 N.W. 323 (1929).

The requirement of a jurisdictional error prior to habeas corpus review springs from SDCL 21-27-16. That statute, in pertinent part, states:

If it appears on the return of a writ of habeas corpus that the applicant is in custody by virtue of process from any court legally constituted, he can be discharged only for one or more of the following causes:

(1) When the court has exceeded the limit of its jurisdiction....

This statute has remained substantially unaltered since its inception in 1877. The United States Supreme Court in Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938), "entertained the fiction that constitutional violations in a criminal case deprive the trial court of jurisdiction. Accordingly a prisoner who could show in a habeas action that the conviction under attack had been obtained in violation of the Constitution was entitled to relief." L. Yackle, Post Conviction Remedies Sec. 5, at 15-16 (1981) (emphasis in original).

In actuality, this court preceded the United States Supreme Court when it allowed habeas corpus review in the 1934 case of State ex rel. Poach v. Sly, 63 S.D. 162, 257 N.W. 113 (1934).

Our first inquiry is naturally addressed to the question of whether or not habeas corpus is available to [petitioner] in seeking the determination of his contentions by this court. Clearly, habeas corpus is not the remedy where a court merely makes a wrong decision; it cannot be availed of to review claimed error where the action of the court alleged to be erroneous is not beyond or in excess of its jurisdiction.

Id. at 165, 257 N.W. at 115. Poach was claiming that he had been unconstitutionally interrogated at a time when he was a suspect of a crime though not yet charged. This court stated:

He claims to have a constitutional right not to be prosecuted under the pending information which raises a question jurisdictional in essence.... While the question is perhaps rather close, we are of the view that the case is a proper one for habeas corpus.

Id. at 166, 257 N.W. at 115. While we have allowed for some expansion in the subject matter of habeas corpus, nonconstitutional, nonjurisdictional defects cannot be reviewed on habeas corpus. Application of Kiser, supra.

Errors and irregularities in the proceedings of a court having jurisdiction of the person, subject matter and power to decide questions of law, are not reviewable though they may have been grounds for reversal on direct appeal. Jurisdiction is the power to hear and determine a controversy and to render judgment in accord with law. Excepting those actions in which the court may lose jurisdiction by a denial of due process (see State ex rel. Baker v. Jameson, 72 S.D. 638, 38 N.W.2d 441) this power includes the power to decide wrongly as well as rightly, to render an erroneous judgment as well as a correct one. Yet jurisdiction is not thereby lost. Stated succinctly, the power to decide includes the power to err. Were it held a court had jurisdiction to render only correct decisions, then, each time it made an erroneous ruling or decision, the court would be without jurisdiction and the ruling itself void. Such is not the law. If error occur the remedy is by appeal.

State ex rel Ruffing v. Jameson, 80 S.D. at 366-67, 123 N.W.2d at 656 (quoted in Fanning v. State, 85 S.D. 246, 180 N.W.2d 853 (1970)). "Ordinarily post-conviction habeas corpus can be used only to review (1) whether the court had jurisdiction of the crime and the person of the defendant; (2) whether the sentence was authorized by law; and (3) in certain cases, whether an incarcerated defendant has been deprived of basic constitutional rights." State ex rel. Burns, 80 S.D. at 645, 129 N.W.2d at 715 (quoted in Application of Williams, supra; Application of Kiser, supra ).

In his initial issue on appeal, Goodroad claims that his guilty plea was not voluntary, since it was the direct result of inhumane treatment he received at the Brown County Jail. At the outset, we note that an involuntary plea is a violation of due process and as such is open to collateral attack. Goodroad claims that he was "left in solitary confinement for weeks upon end, and at times he was held for days in a holding room which was designed, at best, to hold a person at the time of arrest for an hour or so." In addition, he claims he was fed on dirty dishes, was given inappropriate and unhealthy sleeping accommodations, and was not given appropriate medical attention.

The record indicates that Goodroad was placed in administrative segregation for a period of a little over six weeks. It is absolutely clear that Goodroad was placed in segregation due to a threat on his life made by another inmate. In addition, the record indicates that on several occasions jail officials offered to transfer Goodroad to another part of the jail and, after Reeves was transferred, officials offered Goodroad a transfer back to the portion of the jail where Goodroad was confined just prior to his administrative segregation. The above facts are admitted by Goodroad. During his arraignment and sentencing on May 23, 1983, the following colloquy took place between Goodroad, the court, and the state's attorney:

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    ...incarcerated defendant has been deprived of basic constitutional rights." Id., 80 S.D. at 645, 129 N.W.2d at 715. See also Goodroad v. Solem, 406 N.W.2d 141 (S.D.1987). Habeas corpus is not a proper remedy to correct irregular procedures, rather, habeas corpus reaches only jurisdictional er......
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