Reyes v. Cox, Civ. A. No. 71-C-56-D.
| Decision Date | 15 December 1971 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 71-C-56-D. |
| Citation | 336 F. Supp. 829 |
| Parties | Emilio REYES, Petitioner, v. J. D. COX, Superintendent Virginia State Penitentiary, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia |
Robert E. Shepherd, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Richmond, Va., for respondent.
This case comes before the court upon a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Emilio Reyes, a state prisoner, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The petition was originally filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and was later transferred to this court by order dated September 24, 1971. Leave to proceed in forma pauperis has been previously granted.
Petitioner is currently serving sentences totalling 26 years in the Virginia State Penitentiary pursuant to judgments of several state courts arising from convictions for armed robbery, statutory burglary, and grand larceny. Petitioner does not here attack all of these convictions; rather he challenges that part of his detention arising from judgments of the Corporation Court of the City of Martinsville in two cases, tried together on January 11, 1968, upon convictions of statutory burglary and grand and petit larceny. At his trial, Reyes, represented by counsel, entered a plea of guilty and was tried by the court without a jury. The convictions and sentences were not appealed.
Although the allegations in the petition are rather vague and conclusory, it appears that several constitutional errors are alleged, namely: (1) involuntary plea of guilty; (2) ineffective assistance of counsel; (3) lack of probable cause for arrest; (4) failure of the police to inform petitioner of his constitutional rights, from which an illegal confession was obtained; (5) failure of the court to provide an interpreter. Prior to the initiation of this proceeding, petitioner had substantially presented these claims in collateral habeas corpus proceedings in the trial court and on appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, both of which denied and dismissed the petition without relief. Having so presented his claims, he has exhausted his available state remedies. 28 U.S.C. § 2254; Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 83 S.Ct. 822, 9 L.Ed.2d 837 (1963).
All facts necessary for the court to rule in this case appear in the record; therefore, it is not necessary to hold a plenary hearing to develop additional facts. Grundler v. North Carolina, 283 F.2d 798 (4th Cir. 1960).
Petitioner's allegation of an involuntary plea of guilty rests upon two grounds: first, he did not understand the consequences of the plea because he cannot easily comprehend English; second, he entered the plea in fear that his conviction would otherwise be secured by the use of an illegally obtained confession. The trial court made a searching inquiry to ascertain whether Reyes did in fact understand his rights and the nature of his plea. The court first determined that petitioner could not read English well and that he understood spoken English "some but not very good." In answer to the court's questioning, petitioner then stated: that he understood the charges and had conferred with counsel about them; that he knew he had a right to plead not guilty and to be tried by a jury; that he knew a plea of guilty was an admission that he committed the acts charged and all that would remain was the imposition of sentence, the maximum of which reached twenty years on each felony charge; that the plea was not coerced or otherwise induced by counsel or anyone else; that he was satisfied with counsel's representation; and that he had no complaint against the law enforcement officials regarding their conduct toward him. Aware that petitioner did not fully comprehend English, the trial court frequently repeated or rephrased the questions to ensure his understanding. The judgment order of the court states that the plea of guilty was entered knowingly and voluntarily with the advice of counsel and that the court opined that petitioner understood the nature and consequences of his plea. Although petitioner's mastery of his native Spanish is superior to that of English, this court feels that Reyes did in fact knowingly enter his plea. It is noted that prior to the trial, petitioner had lived and worked in this country for several years in surroundings conducive to the acquisition of at least a basic speaking knowledge of English. The court is further aware that petitioner was no stranger to the judicial process in general and to the Martinsville Court in particular, since he had been tried there a month earlier for armed robbery. Moreover, at no time during the trial did petitioner request an interpreter. The record amply demonstrates that the trial court's rephrasing of its questions and petitioner's corresponding unequivocal responses, overcame any language difficulty petitioner may have had. Under these circumstances, the court can find no merit in the claim.
The petitioner's claim...
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