United States v. Jackson, Civ. No. 6192.

• Citation: 144 F. Supp. 458
• Decision Date: 26 September 1956
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 6192.
• Parties: UNITED STATES ex rel. William WADE, Relator-Appellant, v. J. Vernal JACKSON, as Warden of Clinton Prison, State of New York, Relator-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

144 F. Supp. 458

UNITED STATES ex rel. William WADE, Relator-Appellant, v. J. Vernal JACKSON, as Warden of Clinton Prison, State of New York, Relator-Appellee.

Civ. No. 6192.

United States District Court N. D. New York.

September 26, 1956.

William Wade, petitioner pro se.

Jacob K. Javits, Atty. Gen. of New York, Raymond B. Madden, Asst. Atty. Gen., of counsel, Joseph F. Gagliardi, Dist. Atty., Westchester County, White Plains, N. Y., Warren J. Schneider, Asst. Dist. Atty., New York City, of counsel, for appellee.

FOLEY, District Judge.

This petition for a writ of habeas corpus presents the same troublesome problem that was before me in United States ex rel. Caminito v. Murphy, D.C., 127 F. Supp. 689, reversed 2 Cir., 222 F.2d 698, certiorari denied 350 U.S. 896, 76 S.Ct. 155. The discomfort expressed in my decision in that matter, insofar as this application again entails the review of decisions made by the Court of Appeals of New York, remains the same and my feeling of respect for and deference to the competence of that great court has not lessened. However, the duty to review is still present as previously recognized.

Terror filled the early morning hours and day of April 14, 1941, in the City of Ossining, New York. The security of the famed prison with the peculiar name, Sing Sing, had been violated by the attempted escape of three desperate inmates. The convicts had killed an unarmed guard inside the prison during the escape, and when outside the prison killed an Ossining policeman in the public street adjacent to the railroad station in a gun battle. During this episode Waters, one of the convicts, was either killed or committed suicide, and Riordan and McGale, the other two, were apprehended in the woods across the Hudson River a few hours later. Wade, the petitioner here, was arrested in the City of Ossining when he and one Kiernan were entering a taxicab during or shortly after these violent episodes related above.

Wade, the petitioner, and Riordan, McGale and Kiernan were indicted jointly for the murder of the prison guard, Hartye. As an imposing answer to the inordinate delay which surrounds most criminal prosecutions, the trial of the four commenced on May 26, 1941, and concluded on June 27, 1941. The four defendants were found guilty of felony murder. The petitioner and Kiernan received from the jury the grace of a recommendation of life imprisonment in accordance with New York law and the presiding judge, although not so bound, sentenced them to such life imprisonment. Riordan and McGale were sentenced to death. After direct statutory appeals to the Court of Appeals were decided adversely to them and the judgments of conviction affirmed, both were executed.

These convictions have run the gamut of ordinary appellate review, particularly so the judgment of conviction in respect to the petitioner Wade. By memorandum-decision the Riordan and McGale convictions were affirmed by the Court of Appeals, New York, without opinion. People v. Riordan, 288 N.Y. 544, 42 N.E.2d 12. Wade's conviction was affirmed unanimously with no opinion by the Appellate Division, Second Department, New York, in a memorandum-decision citing only the above previous decision of the Court of Appeals in 288 N.Y. 544, 42 N.E.2d 12. People v. Wade, 265 App.Div. 867, 38 N.Y.S.2d 369. Upon a permissive appeal to the Court of Appeals, Wade's conviction was unanimously affirmed without opinion. People v. Wade, 291 N.Y. 574, 50 N.E.2d 660. Reargument was denied in that court. People v. Wade, 292 N.Y. 577, 54 N.E.2d 693. A petition by Wade for a writ of certiorari was denied by the United States Supreme Court, Wade v. People of State of New York, 320 U.S. 789, 64 S.Ct. 200, 88 L.Ed. 475, and rehearing denied, 320 U.S. 815, 64 S.Ct. 426, 88 L.Ed. 492. This statement of judicial review would seem to put most problems at rest, but recent authority clearly establishes the right of the petitioner to revive his contentions of the distant past and thus necessitate a recanvass of the whole situation by this District Court. United States ex rel. Caminito v. Murphy, supra; Leyra v. Denno, 347 U.S. 556, 74 S.Ct. 716, 98 L.Ed. 948. My complaint to such applications is not and never will be that they are time-consuming, because any judge worth his salt can always find the time to read and consider them no matter how crudely presented, and correct manifest injustice and obvious deprivation of important constitutional rights. There is always the fear that one individual, particularly the indigent, may be the victim of an unfair prosecution without the benefit of careful and competent appellate review of his case. But the fear diminishes, at least for me, when it is apparent that a full dress review has been given the matter by the Court of Appeals of New York, long distinguished in the judicature of this country. Although it does not appear in this record the custom in New York is for the Governor to hold clemency hearings where defendants are condemned to death. Thus, in all probability, the record in the Riordan-McGale appeal, which was used in the Wade appeal upon the application of his attorneys, was reviewed again in this most distressing and soul-searching task of the Governor and his counsel as the final authority for commutation.

Upon the filing of the handwritten petition by Wade, I followed the same procedure as in the Caminito case with which no fault was found by the Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. An Order to Show Cause was directed to the Attorney General of New York and the District Attorney of Westchester County. Affidavits in opposition have been supplied by both, and the District Attorney has filed the same voluminous record that was reviewed by the Court of Appeals in 1942. He has also furnished copies of the printed briefs that were submitted to the Court of Appeals and the petition for certiorari and the brief in opposition filed in the United States Supreme Court. I shall make these papers part of this record because they marshal the facts and inferences therefrom, particularly in reference to extortion of confession from Wade by violence and threat, in clear,...