State of Louisiana v. Allgood
| Decision Date | 30 August 1967 |
| Docket Number | Misc. No. 871. |
| Citation | 273 F. Supp. 194 |
| Parties | STATE OF LOUISIANA, ex rel. James PICARD PMB #61518 v. J. Wayne ALLGOOD, Warden, et al., Louisiana State Penitentiary. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana |
John S. Covington, Hunt & Covington, Baton Rouge, La., appointed by the Court to represent petitioner.
Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., of Louisiana, Teddy W. Airhart, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, La., for respondent.
Petitioner, James Picard, applies to this Court for a writ of habeas corpus to release him from a ten year sentence which he is presently serving at Louisiana State Penitentiary for violation of LSA-R.S. 40:962, Illegal Possession of Narcotics. It is from this sentence that petitioner here seeks relief, but he is also serving a concurrent eight year sentence on a different charge, which sentence was imposed some two years after the imposition of the ten year sentence, and after this application for habeas corpus had been filed in this Court. I have serious doubts that petitioner has standing to seek a writ of habeas corpus when the granting of the writ could not release him from custody. United States ex rel. Chilcote v. Maroney, D.C., 246 F.Supp. 607. But out of an abundance of caution, I will pass upon his application as it pertains to the ten year sentence.
On October 6, 1964, two New Orleans police officers, Sergeant Krasnoff and Officer Neumann were cruising in their police car when one Joseph Ussin suddenly flagged them down and shouted that he had been robbed "by those guys in the white Chevvy," pointing to a white Chevrolet approaching the intersection of Howard Avenue and Baronne Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. The officers immediately went in pursuit of the white Chevrolet, but traffic prevented them from driving up to it. A traffic light at the intersection stopped the flow of traffic, including the white Chevrolet at the head of the line, and the police car, several cars behind. When traffic was thus halted, Sergeant Krasnoff jumped out of the police car and ran toward the white Chevrolet in which petitioner was riding. As he approached, the light turned green and the white Chevrolet started to make a right hand turn. As Sergeant Krasnoff ran toward it hollering for the driver to stop the car, he saw a sawed-off shotgun being passed from a passenger in the back seat to someone in the front seat, whereupon the officer pulled his pistol from its holster and commanded the driver to stop. The driver did stop and Sergeant Krasnoff placed all occupants under arrest. Immediately thereafter the car was searched and a sawed-off shotgun, a pistol, and 49 capsules of heroin were found and seized. Petitioner was charged with illegal possession of narcotics and when first arraigned pleaded not guilty. But on March 29, 1965, upon advice of counsel, he withdrew his not guilty plea and entered a plea of guilty to the charge of illegal possession of narcotics, where-upon he was sentenced to serve ten years at Louisiana State Penitentiary. Petitioner now contends that his constitutional rights have been violated because of what he claims to have been an illegal search and seizure and also because, he contends, he was coerced into pleading guilty by a threat of a thirty year sentence as a multiple offender if he did not.
This Court appointed counsel to represent petitioner and a full evidentiary hearing was held. The Court finds no merit to petitioner's contentions. First of all, it is well settled that a voluntary plea of guilty forecloses federal habeas corpus inquiry into any alleged non-jurisdictional irregularities. Garbutt v. Warden, Maryland Penitentiary, 256 F.Supp. 623 (D.Md.1966); Thomas v. Warden, Maryland Penitentiary, 236 F. Supp. 499 (D.Md.1964), aff. 4 Cir., 350 F.2d 395; United States, ex rel. Lofton v. Myers, 252 F.Supp. 918 (E.D.Pa. 1966); Hulett v. Sigler, 242 F.Supp. 705 (D.Neb.1965); Frisbie v. Collins, 342 U.S....
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