United States ex rel. Bronzell v. Rundle, 17579.
Decision Date | 23 April 1969 |
Docket Number | No. 17579.,17579. |
Citation | 410 F.2d 371 |
Parties | UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Curtis BRONZELL, Appellant, v. Alfred T. RUNDLE. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Curtis Bronzell, pro se.
Roger F. Cox, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, Pa. (Joseph J. Musto, Asst. Dist. Atty., James D. Crawford, Asst. Dist. Atty., Chief, Appeals Division, Richard A. Sprague, First Asst. Dist. Atty., Arlen Specter, Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, Pa., on the brief), for appellee.
Before KALODNER, GANEY and VAN DUSEN, Circuit Judges.
This appeal challenges a District Court order denying a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by relator, after exhaustion of state remedies.1 After a jury trial, relator was found guilty of three separate offenses and aggravated robbery, assault and battery, and carrying concealed deadly weapon. On May 29, 1962, he was sentenced to three concurrent terms of seven and one-half to fifteen years.
CLAIM OF DENIAL OF DUE PROCESS IN BEING FORCED TO TRIAL WITH UNPREPARED COUNSEL.
Relator consulted with his trial counsel, an experienced attorney on the staff of the Defender Association, as early as February 28, 1962. Although there was some indication that he intended to secure private trial counsel between February 28 and arraignment on April 11, it is clear that the above-mentioned attorney represented relator and his two co-defendants from April 11 through the sentencing proceedings on May 29. On April 11, the case was listed for trial on April 25, on which date it was continued for trial until May 16. On that date, relator's attorney requested a continuance in order to make "further investigation," which request was denied after the court pointed out that the witnesses had appeared at least three times in connection with this prosecution. Since counsel did not request a continuance to enable him to produce Mr. Baxter's (a victim) customer, who Baxter said "could have seen the defendant but she was afraid," a new trial should not be granted to enable the relator to call a witness who, at most, could have corroborated the testimony of Baxter and was probably too afraid to make any positive identification. Defense counsel's cross-examination of the Commonwealth witnesses showed his familiarity with the case.
In Sykes v. Commonwealth of Virginia, ex rel. Peyton, 364 F.2d 314, 316 (4th Cir. 1966), the court said:
Recent decisions of this court also make clear that there was no denial of relator's Sixth Amendment or Fourteenth Amendment rights on this record. See United States ex rel. Carey v. Rundle, 409 F.2d 1210 (3rd Cir. 1969); United States v. Restaino, 405 F.2d 628 (3rd Cir. ...
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