Smith v. Heard
| Citation | 315 F.2d 692 |
| Decision Date | 16 May 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 19682.,19682. |
| Parties | Joe Edward SMITH, Appellant, v. Jack HEARD, Acting Director, Texas Department of Corrections, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
J. E. Winfree, Houston, Tex., for appellant.
Frank Briscoe, Samuel H. Robertson, Jr., Houston, Tex., Lee P. Ward, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.
Before HUTCHESON, WISDOM and GEWIN, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from an order by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas dismissing a petition for writ of habeas corpus following a state court murder conviction.
Joe Edward Smith, petitioner, was convicted of the capital offense of murder with malice aforethought in the state courts of Texas. His victim was William Bodenheimer, a boy twelve years of age. The case was tried before a jury in the Criminal District Court of Harris County, Texas, resulting in Smith's conviction on April 14, 1960. The death penalty was imposed. Smith appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, the court of last resort in Texas in criminal matters. That court on January 11, 1961, in a unanimous opinion, affirmed the judgment of the trial court. Smith v. State, 171 Tex.Cr.App. 313, 350 S.W.2d 344. A motion for rehearing was likewise unanimously overruled without written opinion on March 29, 1961. A petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court was denied on October 16, 1961, Justice Douglas dissenting. Smith v. Texas, 368 U.S. 883, 82 S.Ct. 126, 7 L.Ed.2d 83.
Smith has exhausted his state remedies. On February 21, 1962, he presented to the United States District Court a petition for writ of habeas corpus. Judge Noel ordered that the petition be filed and required the respondent to show cause why the relief prayed for should not be granted.
In his petition before the United States District Court, Smith contends that his conviction should be set aside for three reasons: (1) that his arrest without a warrant was illegal; (2) his confession was not given freely and voluntarily and is void under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution; and (3) that his confession was void as a matter of law, because he was not taken before a Magistrate by the officer making the arrest as required by the law of Texas.
The District Judge carefully reviewed all of the proceedings complained of in Smith's petition in light of Stickney v. Ellis, 5 Cir., 1961, 286 F.2d 755, and found no "vital flaw" in such proceedings. He found as a fact that Smith had been detained for a period of not more than seven hours and fifteen minutes at which time he was thrice questioned for an aggregate period of at most one hour and ten minutes, and that in the circumstances this was not sufficient to vitiate the confession. The only testimony in support of Smith's contention that the confession was involuntary was that of Smith himself, which was in conflict with numerous other witnesses. The Court concluded:
We have before us the same contentions that Smith urged at the trial; on his appeal to the Texas courts from his conviction; on application for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court; and in his petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court. Each court has rejected his contentions and the United States District Court found specific facts in rejecting his claims. In our review of the actions of the United States District Court, we will not disturb its findings of fact and conclusions of law unless the record shows a coerced confession as a matter of law, or that such findings and conclusions are clearly erroneous. Rule 52(a) F.R.Crim.P., 18 U.S.C.A.; Rushing v. Wilkinson, 5 Cir., 1959, 272 F.2d 633; United States v. Denno, 2 Cir., 1962, 309 F.2d 543.
It is elementary constitutional law that a coerced confession may not be received in evidence and used against an accused. Fikes v. State of Alabama, 352 U.S. 191, 77 S.Ct. 281, 1 L.Ed.2d 246 (1957); Payne v. State of Arkansas, 356 U.S. 560, 78 S.Ct. 844, 2 L.Ed.2d 975 (1958); Spano v. People of The States of New York, 360 U.S. 315, 79 S.Ct. 1202, 3 L.Ed.2d 1265 (1959). On the other hand, citation of authority is unnecessary for the principle that a free, voluntary and non-coerced confession may be received in evidence and used against the declarant.
The Texas appellate court in Smith v. State, supra, held that the fact that Smith may have been arrested without a warrant did not vitiate the confession. They held that it...
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