United States v. Pate, 15812.

• Decision Date: 16 December 1966
• Docket Number: No. 15812.,15812.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Harry BALDRIDGE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Frank J. PATE, Warden, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

371 F.2d 424 (1966)

UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Harry BALDRIDGE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Frank J. PATE, Warden, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 15812.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

December 16, 1966.

Harry Baldridge, Morrie Much, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.

William G. Clark, Atty. Gen., of Illinois, Chicago, Ill., Richard A. Michael, Philip J. Rock, Asst. Attys. Gen., of counsel, for appellee.

Before SCHNACKENBERG, KILEY and FAIRCHILD, Circuit Judges.

KILEY, Circuit Judge.

On April 7, 1965, this court filed its opinion in a previous appeal by petitioner, reversing the district court's order "denying the motion to reconsider" the court's dismissal of Baldridge's habeas corpus petition. 343 F.2d 537 (7th Cir. 1965). This court's opinion stated the court was "not satisfied" that an adequate determination had been made in the district court that Baldridge was represented by counsel when he was convicted and sentenced to from one year to life imprisonment upon a plea of guilty to burglary and larceny of $26.00 in 1941. We stated that "justice required" the reversal and we remanded "for a hearing at which all relevant evidence be heard, including the testimony of petitioner and such witnesses as he and his counsel may deem necessary." Id. at 539.

Upon remand Baldridge's court-appointed attorney — who had also represented Baldridge on the appeal — entered into a stipulation with the State's Attorney General, without consent of Baldridge. Under the stipulation, "oral testimony" was waived as unnecessary and the issues were presented upon a 1954 state post-conviction Report of Proceedings, the affidavit of the 1941 state prosecutor of the Baldridge case, a certified copy of the criminal docket of the 1941 Baldridge trial and the pleadings, briefs and file in the district court together with whatever other evidence the district judge deemed necessary or appropriate for an "adequate hearing."

On the basis of the stipulated evidence the district court noted again the difficulty of deciding whether Baldridge was represented by counsel when convicted and sentenced in 1941. This is because the state court's record, and the state prosecutor's, support Baldridge's claim that he pleaded guilty and was sentenced on April 22, 1941, whereas John Coppinger, the attorney appointed to represent Baldridge, states, with support from his office diary, that he was not in court April 22, 1941, but was present and represented Baldridge on April 24 when the guilty plea was accepted and the sentence imposed. Furthermore, the state court records and state prosecutor's "office file" show that on April 24 the only proceeding in the Baldridge case was the nolle prosequi disposal of other indictments against Baldridge under an agreement made before April 22 between the prosecutor and Baldridge's appointed counsel.

The district court thought the "important issue" was not the actual date of plea and sentence but whether Baldridge was represented by counsel when the plea was entered and he was sentenced. The court then credited the affidavit and 1954 post-conviction proceeding testimony of attorney Coppinger and discredited the allegations in Baldridge's petition because he had been convicted of committing arson in 1958. The habeas corpus petition was denied and Baldridge has appealed pro se.

We are considering here the question of denial of "by far the most pervasive"¹ constitutional right of a defendant in a criminal trial, and if Baldridge was not represented by counsel when he pleaded guilty and was sentenced, he has been unjustly imprisoned. We are again "not...