James v. Boles, 9503.
| Decision Date | 20 November 1964 |
| Docket Number | No. 9503.,9503. |
| Parties | Clayton W. JAMES, Appellant, v. Otto C. BOLES, Warden of the West Virginia State Penitentiary, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Paul L. Teare, Wheeling, W. Va. (Court-assigned counsel), for appellant.
George H. Mitchell, Asst. Atty. Gen. of W. Va. (C. Donald Robertson, Atty. Gen. of W. Va., on brief), for appellee.
Before HAYNSWORTH and BRYAN, Circuit Judges, and GORDON, District Judge.
Petitioner appeals from an order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia dismissing his petition for habeas corpus. The decision of the District Court is affirmed.
At the January 1962 Term of the Intermediate Court of Kanawha County, the petitioner was indicted by the Grand Jury for statutory rape of his fourteen-year-old stepdaughter, who was also his adopted daughter. The offense was alleged to have occurred December 15, 1961. At his trial the Intermediate Court for Kanawha County, which was held March 5-6, 1962, petitioner was represented by privately employed counsel. Petitioner was found guilty, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Earlier, on April 24, 1961, petitioner had been found mentally ill by the Kanawha County Mental Hygiene Commission and then he had been committed to Spencer State Hospital. The staff of the latter institution concluded on May 17, 1961, that James exhibited a "schizophrenic reaction, paranoid type," a form of psychosis which had been present for many years. On July 21, 1961, petitioner had been released from the hospital upon a "trial visit," the hospital staff being of the opinion that he was then in a quiescent period.
Petitioner appealed to the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, which Court said in its decree that the judgment of the lower court was "plainly right" and held against the petitioner. Petitioner then applied to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia for a writ of habeas corpus. The petition was denied. Application was made to the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari which was denied. 375 U.S. 907, 84 S.Ct. 200, 11 L.Ed.2d 147. Petitioner then made application for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, which after a hearing was refused. From the latter court, this appeal arose.
Petitioner contends that he was not guilty of the offense by reason of his insanity at the time. He also contends that he was not competently represented at the trial as the defense of insanity was not presented, and further contends that he could not adequately defend himself at the trial due to his mental condition.
Upon his application to the District Court, a hearing was held with respect to the mental state of the petitioner at the time of his trial. At the hearing, those present were the petitioner, the Superintendent of the Mental Institution to which the petitioner was committed, the attorney who represented petitioner at the trial and the Prosecuting Attorney at the trial. The Court found that petitioner was represented by a competent and experienced trial lawyer. The testimony revealed that the petitioner had testified in his own behalf, and his testimony, upon examination and cross-examination, was in all respects responsive to the questions. He evinced a full appreciation of the charges and the issues involved, and had a full recollection of the facts. The defense of insanity was raised at no time during the trial. It was shown that the petitioner's attorney, although aware of petitioner's commitment to the state...
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Lee v. State of Alabama
...rational understanding — and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him." In James v. Boles, 4 Cir., 1964, 339 F.2d 431, the court citing Lyles v. United States, 1957, 103 U.S.App.D.C. 22, 254 F.2d 725, 729, 730, pointed out that a criminal def......
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