Shuttle v. Smith, Civ. A. No. 5395.
| Citation | 296 F. Supp. 1315 |
| Decision Date | 03 March 1969 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 5395. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Vermont |
| Parties | John A. SHUTTLE v. Robert G. SMITH, Warden, Vermont State Prison. |
William H. Quinn, Burlington, Vt., for petitioner.
Alan W. Cheever, Esq., Asst. Atty. Gen., Montpelier, Vt., and Joseph C. Palmisano, State's Atty., Washington County, Barre, Vt., for respondent.
Petitioner, John A. Shuttle, filed with this Court an application for writ of habeas corpus against Robert G. Smith, Warden of the Vermont State Prison. He alleges that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel in connection with his prosecution by the State of Vermont on four charges of breaking and entering. The petitioner pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve not less than five nor more than seven years on each charge, the sentences to run concurrently.
An order to show cause was duly issued and a return made by the respondent. This Court appointed William H. Quinn, Esq. to represent the petitioner and a hearing was held at which oral and documentary evidence was received and certain stipulations of fact were filed.
From the evidence and stipulations, I find the following facts:
1. At sometime during the evening of April 17 or the early morning hours of April 18, 1963, petitioner was taken into custody by the Vermont State Police in connection with an investigation of numerous breaks into dwelling houses in the Northfield, Vermont, area and was lodged in the Washington County Jail.
2. On April 18, 1963, an information was filed in Montpelier Municipal Court by States Attorney John A. Bernasconi charging that the petitioner on February 15, 1963, broke and entered in the night-time a dwelling house owned by Ralph Goodel in Roxbury with intent therein to commit a felony. On the same day, similar informations were filed against Albert Premont, Ricardo Diego and Vernon Truman, also known as John Truman. Also on the same day, informations were filed charging that Glen Corey and Donald Shuttle on March 30, 1963, broke and entered in the night-time a dwelling house owned by John Doe with intent therein to commit a felony.
3. During the day of April 18, 1963, petitioner contacted the office of Attorney Richard Davis of Barre who had represented petitioner in another criminal proceeding. Mr. Davis was unavailable but at some time during that evening, Mr. Davis and one of his associates, Stephen B. Martin, Esq., visited petitioner and his brother, Donald, at the Washington County Jail. As a result of that meeting, Attorney Martin appeared on April 19, 1963, with petitioner and his brother, Donald, in Montpelier Municipal Court before Judge John Connarn for arraignment on the single charge then pending against each of them. At the same time, Premont, Truman, Corey and Diego also appeared for arraignment on the charges pending against them.
4. At the arraignment proceedings, Martin spoke with the petitioner, his brother, Donald Shuttle, Premont and Truman and all were in general agreement that he should appear for each of them. Corey was represented by Martin at arraignment but subsequently obtained other counsel. Diego at all times had other counsel. All respondents entered not guilty pleas at the arraignment session on April 19, 1963.
5. On April 19, 1963, following the arraignment, additional charges were brought in the Montpelier Municipal Court against the petitioner, Premont, Corey, Truman and Diego alleging other offenses of similar nature. On April 22, 1963, the petitioner, Premont and Truman appeared with Attorney Martin in Montpelier Municipal Court for arraignment on the additional charges brought against them. Attorney Martin entered not guilty pleas to each of the new charges for each of his clients. On April 24, 1963, Judge Connarn of the Washington Municipal Court assigned Attorney Martin to represent Shuttle because of the latter's lack of property or funds to engage counsel.
6. On April 22, 1963, Premont pleaded guilty to the first charge brought against him. On April 24, 1963, Diego pleaded guilty to all charges pending against him. On April 26, 1963, Premont pleaded guilty to the two additional charges pending against him. Donald Shuttle pleaded guilty to the single charge pending against him and Corey pleaded guilty to the two charges pending against him. Martin later learned that Diego, Premont and Corey had given statements to the State Police prior to Martin's talk with the defendants represented by him, tending to incriminate the petitioner.
7. On May 3, 1963, informations were filed in the Washington County Court charging the petitioner and Truman with the same crimes for which they were charged in Montpelier Municipal Court. Upon the filing of these informations in the Washington County Court, both Shuttle and Truman then decided to enter pleas of guilty in the Municipal Court rather than in County Court. Both returned to the Municipal Court on the following day to change their pleas from not guilty to guilty. However, Truman refused to change his plea and elected to stand trial by jury in the Washington County Court on the information filed in that Court on May 3, 1963. Shuttle pleaded guilty to all four charges pending against him in the Municipal Court. Sentence was deferred until after the Truman trial.
8. On May 8, 1963, following his guilty plea, petitioner gave a written signed statement to the Vermont State Police. The statement was given with the consent of Martin as he thought that it would be in the petitioner's best interest to cooperate with the State Police in an effort to solve other breaks in the community. However, the statement is restricted to events of February 15, 1963, with respect to the Goodel and Gale breaks with which the petitioner was already charged and to which he had already pleaded guilty.
9. The Truman trial began on May 15, 1963. When Truman refused to change his plea as agreed, Mr. Martin then felt that a conflict of interest had arisen by reason of his representation of both the petitioner and Truman. He advised the Washington County Court of the situation and moved to be relieved of his assignment to defend Truman on the grounds of this conflict of interest. His motion was denied. Again, at the opening of the Truman trial in the Washington County Court, Martin moved to withdraw as counsel for Truman on the same ground and again his motion was denied. At this time, he represented to the County Court in part as follows:
I wish further to point out that these pleas of guilty have been entered in Montpelier Municipal Court at least a week and a half ago and they have not yet been sentenced. Further, that the State's Attorney has conferred with two of these people, who were my clients, namely, Albert Premont and John Shuttle, in reference to testifying in this case. My permission has not been sought to interview these people, nor has the State's attorney informed me what took place at these conferences, and the impression is created that if they testify favorably to the state that the logical inference to be drawn is that there is a promise of a lesser sentence or promise of a recommendation of a lesser sentence in the Municipal Court; and that if they should testify favorably to the respondent, there is the implication that I as their counsel have sought to put words into their mouths and have asked them to testify on behalf of the respondent, which places me, I believe, in a serious conflict of interest situation. Therefore I renew my motion to withdraw and to give this respondent sufficient time to seek other counsel.
10. At Truman's trial in the Washington County Court, the State called Shuttle as a witness. This placed Martin in the position of fulfilling his obligation to his client Truman by cross-examining his client Shuttle. Shuttle's testimony generally supported Truman's defense theory. It was Martin's opinion that the testimony given by Shuttle would not be helpful to him in regard to his own sentence and so advised him.
11. Some of Martin's cross-examination is as follows:
Note—This testimony is in direct conflict with the statement given by petitioner to the State Police on May 8, 1963.
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