Sisk v. Overlade

• Decision Date: 10 March 1955
• Docket Number: No. 11125.,11125.
• Citation: 220 F.2d 68
• Parties: Rufus Glenn SISK v. J. Ellis OVERLADE, Warden, Indiana State Prison.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

220 F.2d 68 (1955)

Rufus Glenn SISK v. J. Ellis OVERLADE, Warden, Indiana State Prison.

No. 11125.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

March 10, 1955.

R. James Gormley, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.

Edwin K. Steers, Atty. Gen., Frank E. Spencer, Deputy Atty. Gen., Robert S. Baker, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, Ind., for appellee.

Before DUFFY, Chief Judge, and FINNEGAN and SWAIM, Circuit Judges.

DUFFY, Chief Judge.

Petitioner, an inmate of the Indiana State Prison, prepared and caused to be filed, a verified petition addressed to the presiding judge of the United States District Court, Northern District of Indiana, praying that a writ of habeas corpus issue. Petitioner averred that he had been convicted of first degree murder in the Indiana State courts in violation of his rights guaranteed by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He asserted his arrest was illegal; that the search and seizure of his automobile was illegal; that the grand jury which brought the indictment had no legal authority to inquire into the offense charged. Upon this appeal petitioner relies upon his claim that the search and seizure of his automobile was illegal and that evidence obtained by such search was introduced at the trial over his objection.

After the filing of the petition for the writ, the Court without a hearing, entered an order that the petition be denied for the reason that facts alleged therein were not sufficient to merit the issuance of the writ.

The document which was filed by petitioner consisted of nineteen typewritten pages. It was entitled on the first page thereof: "Verified Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus in Forma Pauperis". On the last page immediately following petitioner's signature appeared the following: "This petitioner respectfully urges this Honorable Court not to challenge the imperfection and length of this petition, as it was not prepared by an attorney at law but by petitioner himself and is the only way he knows to get the facts before this Court".

The first four pages of the document filed are clearly in the form of a verified petition, the verification appearing on the fourth page thereof. On the fifth page appears: "Brief in Support of Petition". Thereafter follow citations of authorities, arguments and a more detailed statement of facts than appeared in the first four pages. The government contends that neither the District Court nor this Court should consider any of the allegations and statements in the document appearing after page 4 because they are no part of the verified petition. A strict construction of the document filed might justify such a contention. However, we think the entire document should be considered as the verified petition. It is apparent that the petitioner so intended. On the last page of the document, he refers to "this petition". The Supreme Court has stated: "Meticulous insistence upon regularity in procedural allegations is foreign to the purpose of habeas corpus." Gibbs v. Burke, 337 U. S. 773, 779, 69 S.Ct. 1247, 1250, 93 L.Ed. 1686. The same court pointed out that in habeas corpus proceedings, prisoners unlearned in the law must often act as their own counsel, hence courts cannot impose on them the same high standards of the legal art which might be placed upon members of the legal profession. Price v. Johnston, 334 U.S. 266, 292, 68 S.Ct. 1049, 92 L.Ed. 1356. "* * * we can hardly demand of a layman and pauper who draws his petition behind prison walls the skill of one trained in the law." Tomkins v. State of Missouri, 323 U.S. 485, 487, 65 S.Ct. 370, 372, 89 L.Ed. 407. Hence, as distinguished from the conclusions drawn by the petitioner and his citation of authorities, we shall consider allegations of fact appearing on any of the nineteen pages of the document, as being part of his verified petition.

Upon the filing of the petition the district judge had authority to issue the writ or he could have issued an order to show cause why the writ should not be granted. Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 2243. He did neither, but entered an order denying the writ without a hearing. This procedure could be followed only on the basis that the facts contained in the petition showed that petitioner was not entitled to a writ; in other words, that a prima facie case had not been shown. In this posture there is no denial or answer to any of the allegations of fact in the petition, and on this appeal we must consider such allegations as being true.

Petitioner alleged he was the owner of a Plymouth automobile which had been and was used by him as a place of habitation or residence; that on September 4, 1950 he was in said automobile which was parked in a parking lot in Evansville, Indiana; that he was arrested by sheriff's deputies without a warrant; that his automobile was not moving at the time it was seized and petitioner made no resistance to arrest; and that his automobile was not searched at the time of his arrest. The petitioner further alleged he was taken immediately to the county jail of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, and incarcerated; that thereafter his automobile was taken to the jail yard and was later searched over a period of several days, the search not being in the presence of the petitioner; that articles of clothing and personal belongings of petitioner were seized by the officers, and that the sheriff or other officials had ample time in which to obtain a search warrant and that, at the time of the search, there was no possibility of the automobile being moved by petitioner.

A timely motion to suppress the evidence and for the return of the property was made. At the trial objections were made to the receipt into evidence of the articles seized as well as testimony based upon the inspection by the county officials of the automobile and its contents.

Petitioner was tried and found guilty of first degree murder in the Circuit Court of Gibson County, Indiana, and received a sentence of life imprisonment. Upon appeal the conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Indiana in an opinion which upheld the legality of the search and seizure of petitioner's automobile. Sisk v. State, 232 Ind. 214, 110 N.E.2d 627. Certiorari was denied, Sisk v. State of Indiana, 346 U.S. 838, 74 S. Ct. 60, 98 L.Ed. 360.

Whether a prima facie case was made out by the petitioner we regard as a rather close question. It would have been better procedure for the District Judge to have held a hearing where testimony could have been received as to the circumstances under which the arrest was made and the exact time when and the conditions under which the search of the automobile was conducted. Thus only could the "total atmosphere of the case", United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 66, 70 S.Ct. 430, 435, 94 L.Ed. 653, be obtained.

It is not surprising that petitioner and respondent each rely on Wolf v. People of State of Colorado, 1949, 338 U.S. 25, 69 S.Ct. 1359, 93 L.Ed. 1782. The rule laid down in that case in spite of three dissenting opinions, is apparently the correct rule today. As late as February, 1954, the Supreme Court has insisted that the Wolf case was correctly decided. In Irvine v. People of State of California, 1954, 347 U.S. 128, at page 134, ...