Miller v. State

• Decision Date: 15 January 1969
• Docket Number: No. 68--280,68--280
• Citation: 217 So.2d 903
• Parties: Willie Joseph MILLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 903

217 So.2d 903

Willie Joseph MILLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 68--280.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

Jan. 15, 1969.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 3, 1969.

Edward M. Waller, Jr., of Fowler, White, Collins, Gillen, Humkey & Trenam, Tampa, for appellant.

Earl Faircloth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Robert R. Crittenden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lakeland, for appellee.

PIERCE, Judge.

In this case, appellant Willie Joseph Miller appeals to this Court an order entered by the Hillsborough County Circuit Court on May 28, 1968, denying Miller's second motion filed under CrPR 1.850, 33 F.S.A. to vacate a sentence of life imprisonment previously imposed upon him after pleading guilty to first degree murder.

The first motion to vacate the sentence, under then Criminal Procedure Rule 1, was filed on January 23, 1964, and after hearing was denied on March 17, 1964, by the late Circuit Judge Harry N. Sandler, who incorporated in his order of denial detailed antecedent history of the case, which is fully supported and documented by the record before us here, and which we herewith adopt and approve, as follows:

'The defendant, Willie Joseph Miller, was indicted by the Grand Jury of this County on the 15th day of November, 1960, on the charge of murder in the first degree. Thereafter, on December 8, 1960, at a hearing before the undersigned Judge (before whom all the proceedings in this case were held) the defendant was adjudged insolvent and the Honorable John R. Parkhill, a member of the Bar of this Court and well versed in the trial of criminal cases, was appointed to represent the said defendant. The said John R. Parkhill being present at this hearing, the defendant was then arraigned, plead not guilty to the indictment, and the trial of the case was set for February 2, 1961, to commence at 9:30 o'clock A.M. Thereafter at said time, to-wit, February 2, 1961, all parties appeared in Court prepared for trial, including the proposed jurors summoned for such trial. Thereupon Mr. Parkhill advised the Court that the defendant moved the Court to be allowed to withdraw his plea of not guilty and enter a plea of guilty to the indictment. The defendant was thereupon interrogated by his counsel before the Court relative to the effect of the plea and the possible consequences, and advised both his counsel and the Court that he understood the proceedings and desired to plead guilty. Thereupon the defendant was again arraigned, the indictment read to him, and upon interrogation stated that he understood the indictment and understood the nature of his plea. The Court then heard the testimony of nine (9) witnesses. At the conclusion of this testimony the defendant took the stand and freely and voluntarily confessed the crime giving in detail the events that lead up to the unlawful killing and the defendant's part (Tr. p. 38) in the event. Thereupon the defendant was permitted to withdraw his plea of not guilty and in accordance with his plea of guilty was found guilty of murder in the first degree with recommendation to mercy and was so adjudged. The mandatory sentence of life imprisonment was thereupon imposed.

The cause is now before the Court on motion of the defendant, filed January 23, 1964, to set aside the judgment and sentence on various grounds. On January 28, 1964, the Honorable Thomas C. MacDonald, a member of the Bar of this Court, was appointed to represent the defendant in this proceeding and was present before this Court on the defendant's behalf at the hearing on said motion. The motion of the defendant, filed under the provisions of Criminal Procedure, Rule No. I, consists in substance of the customary allegation that the defendant was deprived of his constitutional rights under both the State and Federal Constitutions; that he was questioned by the Assistant State Attorney and other authorities but was not advised that he was entitled to counsel; that the confessions elicited by the authorities were in violation of his constitutional rights; and that the absence of counsel on his behalf rendered the confessions inadmissible at the trial. Likewise the defendant complains that he was not taken before a Committing Magistrate and advised of his constitutional rights and that he was not properly represented by counsel.

On behalf of the defendant, Mr. MacDonald filed two (2) motions, one for an order directing production of the defendant at the hearing and one for an order directing the State to furnish defense counsel with a transcript of the proceedings. The latter motion was complied with by the State by defendant's counsel being furnished with a complete copy of the proceedings before the Court and the interrogation of the defendant by the authorities on behalf of the State. The motion to produce the defendant at the hearing was denied as in the opinion of the Court the motion filed and the records in this case successfully show that the defendant is entitled to no relief on his said motion. A hearing before a Committing Magistrate is not a necessary step in the prosecution of a felony and nowhere in the record is there any violation or indication that the defendant's constitutional rights were violated. No confession was used against him in the trial or even suggested to the Court. The defendant voluntarily took the stand, and was ably represented by counsel.

The motion to vacate the judgment is without merit and denied.

DONE AND ORDERED at Tampa, Florida, this 17th day of March, 1964.

Harry N. Sandler

CIRCUIT JUDGE.'

Miller took an appeal from Judge Sandler's order aforesaid, and on November 13, 1964, this 2nd District Court quashed the appeal upon motion of the Attorney General, observing that 'it is manifest that the questions...