Holbrook v. State
| Decision Date | 24 March 1965 |
| Parties | Joseph L. HOLBROOK v. STATE of Maine. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Brown, Wathen & Choate, by Harlan J. Choate, Augusta, for plaintiff.
Frank E. Hancock, Atty. Gen., and John W. Benoit, Asst. Atty. Gen., Augusta, for defendant. Before WILLIAMSON, C. J., and WEBBER, TAPLEY, and SULLIVAN, JJ.
On May 12, 1964 the petitioner filed a petition for the writ of habeas corpus signed by him and verified as required by statute. A court appointed counsel was duly assigned to represent him. On July 8, 1964 an amended petition was filed and the original petition was treated as withdrawn. The amended petition was signed only by counsel. The verification thereof, however, was signed by the petitioner and his oath thereto was taken. The State seasonably filed a motion to dismiss based upon two grounds, (1) that the amended petition fails to allege valid facts evidencing a basis for the issuance of the writ; and (2) that the amended petition has not been signed as required by law. The court was furnished a transcript of the record of the information proceedings which culminated in the sentencing of the petitioner and the petition was thereafter dismissed without further hearing. The matter comes forward on appeal from that order. The justice below made findings preliminary to his decision and it is apparent that he did not rely upon the second ground for dismissal urged by the State. In our view the form of the amended petition satisfied the requirements of the statute and we first consider those requirements. 14 M.R.S.A. § 5503 (R.S.1954, Ch. 126, Sec. 1-B) states in part: The Maine Rules for Proceedings for Post-Conviction Relief, Rule 2, (159 Me. 528) prescribes the form for verification. The Legislature has wisely made mandatory the requirement of verification, and a lack thereof must be considered a fatal jurisdictional defect. There is obviously as much reason for requiring verification of an amendment which recites new facts as for requiring verification of the original petition. We construe the above quoted statutory reference to amendments as imposing the requirement of both the signature of the petitioner and his sworn verification upon any amendment alleging facts. The reason for the rule becomes even more apparent when as in the instant case the original petition is treated as withdrawn and the proceeding continues on the amended petition alone. We conclude, however, that the signature of the petitioner appended to and made a part of a proper form of verification under oath satisfied statutory and jurisdictional requirements and erectively raised issues to be considered by the court.
We therefore turn to an examination of those issues and the basis for dismissal relied upon by the justice below. He found that the allegations set forth in the amended petition were for the most part addressed to matters related to proceedings in the District Court which culminated in a finding of probable cause on which to hold the petitioner for subsequent grand jury consideration. Such irregularities, if any there were, were subsequently cured by the petitioner's waiver and plea of guilty to an information in the Superior Court. Ordinarily post conviction relief will not reach irregularities alleged to have occurred in felony cases at the District Court level. The reason for the rule was well stated in Arrington v. Warden, (1963) 232 Md. 672, 195 A.2d 38, in which the court said:
We recognize as did the court in Arrington that events occurring at or in connection with the preliminary hearing stage may become significant but only insofar as such events have an 'appreciable effect' upon subsequent proceedings at the higher court level. The averments here are not of such a nature as to raise an issue as to such a subsequent 'appreciable effect.' There was, for example, no plea of guilty at the District Court level which might in some manner have been used adversely to the petitioner in the Superior Court.
In the instant case the petitioner while awaiting grand jury action initiated an information proceeding pursuant to 15 M.R.S.A. § 811 (R.S.1954, Ch. 147, Sec. 33 as amended). He was afforded the services of court appointed counsel. When he was presented for arraignment, the presiding justice made certain that the petitioner fully understood the charge set forth by information, his right to grand jury consideration, and his right to jury trial if indicted. Having assured himself that the petitioner was fully cognizant of his rights and the effect of a waiver thereof, the presiding justice permitted the filing of waiver and subsequent arraignment. A plea of guilty was then offered and accepted. In the course of these proceedings the following exchange occurred:
'The Court: 'Was your plea of guilty made because of any threats or promises anyone made to you?'
'A: 'No, your honor."
After this colloquy the court was addressed by counsel for the petitioner and by the petitioner himself. These remarks, addressed exclusively to reasons for leniency in sentence, were entirely devoid of any suggestion that waiver or plea had been improperly induced. The petitioner admitted his felonious act which he said occurred while he was intoxicated. The remarks of counsel are of such a nature as to make it abundantly clear that he had been given no information whatever by his client that would lead him to suppose that the waiver and plea were other than voluntary. The petitioner was thereafter sentenced to serve not less than one nor more than two years in our State Prison. In imposing sentence the presiding justice indicated that he was taking into account the petitioner's 'rather extensive criminal record.'
By his amended petition for post conviction relief the petitioner asserted, in addition to his claim of irregularities leading to a finding of probable cause at the District Court level, that his plea of guilty to the information was improperly induced. The allegation states:
As already noted, the justice below caused the record of the information proceedings to be prepared and submitted for his consideration. He thereupon dismissed the petition without further hearing. Petitioner now contends that he was entitled to hearing upon the above quoted allegations charging an inducement to plead. We have not heretofore had occasion to consider whether or not a full evidentiary hearing is mandatory under such conditions as here obtained.
In passing upon the constitutionality of the information statute, we said in part in Tuttle, Petr. v. State of Maine, 158 Me. 150, 153, 180 A.2d 608, 610:
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