Knowles v. State
| Decision Date | 26 January 1967 |
| Docket Number | 4 Div. 270 |
| Citation | 194 So.2d 562,280 Ala. 406 |
| Parties | Walter Frank KNOWLES v. STATE of Alabama. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Walter Frank Knowles, pro se.
Richmond M. Flowers, Atty. Gen., and David W. Clark, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
This is an appeal from a judgment denying a petition for writ of error coram nobis after a hearing on the merits.
On April 30, 1954, the residence of Mrs. Lena Belle Shugarman in Dothan, Houston County, was entered by two armed men who forcibly took a sum of money. Later that day, the petitioner and one Larkins were arrested by two State troopers in Barbour County. The troopers moved petitioner and Larkins from the car they were driving, searched them and put them into the patrol car. The car they had stopped fitted the description of a car used in a reported robbery in Dothan. One of the troopers found three pistols and a rifle in the car and later a roll of money was found in the car heater after Larkins had told the officers where to look.
A few days later, petitioner's family employed an able attorney, now deceased, to represent petitioner. His attorney held a series of conferences with the District Attorney and they finally agreed, with petitioner's consent, that the plea of not guilty would be withdrawn and each of the defendants, petitioner and Larkins, would plead guilty to the charge of armed robbery, a capital offense, and take a sentence of forty years in the penitentiary.
On May 28, 1954, the day set for the trial, the parties appeared before the court with their attorney and changed their plea of not guilty to guilty. This was first announced by their attorney and the trial judge stated: Mr. Knowles: 'Yes, sir.' The same question had been asked Larkins with the same answer. Then in open court, a stipulation of the facts was entered into setting forth the facts of the robbery and they were stated to the jury by the District Attorney. The court then addressed both defendants and their attorney, asking each of them if they confirmed the statement made by the District Attorney. Each replied in the affirmative and the jury found each guilty and fixed the punishment at forty years and they were subsequently sentenced accordingly.
This petition was filed April 27, 1966, and no insistence is made that petitioner was not adequately represented, and he and his attorney representing him on this petition stated that they did not claim inadequacy of counsel as a ground for the petition. He did assert that:
A. He was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced under a defective indictment and/or warrant of arrest.
B. That when arrested, his person and automobile were searched and a sum of money seized without a warrant of arrest or a search warrant.
C. That he was denied due process of law in that he was not afforded a preliminary hearing, was held in jail 26 days before appearing before a magistrate and a confession was illegally obtained from him.
D. That the confession was obtained without presence of counsel or a warning that he had a right to remain silent...
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Ex parte Heaton
...So.2d 863 (1969). If voluntarily and understandingly made, a plea of guilty is conclusive as to the defendant's guilt. Knowles v. State, 280 Ala. 406, 194 So.2d 562, cert. denied, 386 U.S. 1011, 87 S.Ct. 1358, 18 L.Ed.2d 442 (1967); Camp v. State, 359 So.2d 1187 "When a guilty plea is accep......
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Davis v. State
... ... State v. Silvacarvalho, 180 Neb. 755, 145 N.W.2d 447, 449 (1966), followed in State v. Levell, 181 Neb. 401, 149 N.W.2d 46 (1967); State v. Hizel, 181 Neb. 680, 150 N.W.2d 217 (1967). See also to the same effect: Knowles v. State, 194 So.2d 562, 564 ... (Ala.1967); People v. Succop, 57 Cal.Rptr. 269 (1967); State v. Corrigan, 4 Conn.Cir. 190, 228 A.2d 568 (1967); State v. Heller, 4 Conn.Cir. 174, 228 A.2d 815, 821 (1966); State v. Wessling, 150 N.W.2d 301 (Iowa 1967); Cox v. Commonwealth, 411 S.W.2d 320 ... ...
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State v. Delano, 53079
...thus waived his right to litigate the issue of voluntariness and validity of signed statements obtained by prosecution. Knowles v. State, 280 Ala. 406, 194 So.2d 562, 564, cert. denied 386 U.S. 1011, 87 S.Ct. 1358, 18 L.Ed.2d 442; State ex rel. Kline v. Burke, 27 Wis.2d 40, 133 N.W.2d 405, ......
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Rickard v. State
...as both evidence and verdict. Woodard, 42 Ala.App. 552, 171 So. 462; Busby v. Holman, 356 F.2d 75. See also Merrill, J., in Knowles, 280 Ala. 406, 194 So.2d 562. Implicitly a voluntary plea of guilty in open court on advice of counsel dispenses with the need for a judicial fact-finding. The......