State v. Davis, A--451

• Decision Date: 30 September 1966
• Docket Number: No. A--451,A--451
• Citation: 223 A.2d 208,92 N.J.Super. 289
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Sinclair DAVIS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division

Page 289

92 N.J.Super. 289

223 A.2d 208

STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Sinclair DAVIS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. A--451.

Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division.

Argued Sept. 19, 1966.

Decided Sept. 30, 1966.

John J. Francis, Jr., Newark, assigned attorney, for appellant.

George A. Franconero, Asst. County Pros., for respondent (Brendan T. Byrne, Essex County Pros., attorney).

Before Judges GOLDMANN, KILKENNY and COLLESTER.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant appeals from the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. He contends that the was without the aid and advice of counsel on January 31, 1949 when he pleaded guilty in the Essex County Court before Judge Hartshorne to several accusations charing him with unlawful entry and larceny, and was also without counsel when he was sentenced on February 9, 1949. He maintains that he never waived his right to have counsel assigned to represent him.

Defendant never appealed from the judgments of conviction. It was not until March 22, 1965, when he filed his petition for post-conviction relief pursuant to R.R. 3:10A, more than 16 years after entry of his pleas and imposition of the sentences, that defendant challenged the propriety of his convictions on the sole ground that he was not represented by an attorney. He does not allege in his petition or in any supporting affidavit that he was not guilty of the offenses charged against him or that he would have entered a different plea if an attorney had been assigned in 1949 to represent him. He does not claim that he did not understand the charges against him or the consequences of his pleas of guilty to the accusations. Nor does he state in his petition that he was not advised of his right to counsel.

At the post-conviction hearing on June 18, 1965 the State presented the affidavit of Charles Abbey, who was the certified court reporter at the time. Mr. Abbey entered the pleas and recorded the sentences. He represented that his records of the hearings at the pleas and sentences had been destroyed in accordance with a rule of the Supreme Court requiring retention of records for only five years. He had no personal recollection of the case. Nor did Judge Hartshorne. The prosecutor's records indicated that Judge Naugh-wright, now deceased, was the sentencing judge. Defendant did not testify, but his affidavit was accepted in lieu of his testimony, which would have been that he had no attorney at the time of his pleas and sentencing and had not waived his right to counsel.

In denying defendant's application the judge in the Law Division indulged in the presumption that defendant had waived counsel when he pleaded and was sentenced. The rationale was that a judge like Judge Hartshorne, who enjoyed a reputation for high judicial competency, would presumably have observed all the constitutional proprieties. 88 N.J.Super. 528, at p. 533, 212 A.2d 859, at p. 862. As opposed to this presumption, the judge below was unwilling to accept as true defendant's unsupported, albeit uncontradicted, allegation that he was without an attorney at the time of his pleas and sentences and had not waived his right to counsel. And this notwithstanding any proof by the State negating defendant's allegations.

The difficulty with the Law Division's approach lies in its failure to observe the rule laid down by the Supreme Court of the United States in Carnley v. Cochran, 369 U.S. 506, 82 S.Ct. 884, 8 L.Ed.2d 70 (1962), wherein the court stated:

'Presuming waiver from a silent record is impermissible. The record must show, or there must be an allegation and evidence which show, that an accused was offered counsel but intelligently and understandingly rejected the offer.' (at...