United States v. Robinson

• Decision Date: 18 July 1956
• Docket Number: Cr. A. 18917.
• Citation: 143 F. Supp. 286
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Thomas H. ROBINSON, Jr., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Kentucky

143 F. Supp. 286

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Thomas H. ROBINSON, Jr., Defendant.

Cr. A. 18917.

United States District Court W. D. Kentucky, at Louisville.

July 18, 1956.

J. Leonard Walker, U. S. Atty., Louisville, Ky., Charles M. Allen, Asst. U. S. Atty., Louisville, Ky., for plaintiff.

Thomas H. Robinson, Jr., in pro. per.

SHELBOURNE, Chief Judge.

September 28, 1953, the defendant Thomas H. Robinson, Jr., filed a motion under the provisions of Section 2255 Title 28, U.S.C.A. to have the Court (a) give notice to the United States Attorney of the motion, (b) grant a prompt hearing thereon, (c) issue an order or writ for the production of the defendant at said hearing, (d) order witnesses subpoenaed in his behalf, (e) determine the issues and make findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect thereto, (f) set aside the judgment of conviction and sentence in this case and (g) discharge defendant from further custody or proceedings under the indictment.

At the time of the filing of the petition, the defendant was confined in the United States Penitentiary at Alcatraz, California, under the provisions of a judgment of conviction and sentence rendered by this Court following a trial begun in this Court after arraignment, the actual trial beginning September 28, 1943, under an indictment returned by the Grand Jury of this Court on October 20, 1934.

The indictment charged defendant with the offense of kidnapping under Section 1201(a) of Title 18 U.S.C.A. (Section 408(c) of Title 18 U.S.Code at the time the indictment was returned.)

It was charged that the kidnapped person had not been liberated unharmed, authorizing a verdict by the jury recommending the death sentence. A plea of guilty was originally entered on May 13, 1936 in this Court and the defendant received a sentence of life imprisonment. Subsequently, on August 9, 1943, that judgment of conviction and sentence was held void in a habeas corpus proceeding in the Northern District of California, Southern Division, see Robinson v. Johnston, 50 F.Supp. 774.

Following the trial in this Court in 1943, pursuant to the verdict of the jury so recommending, the defendant was adjudged guilty and sentenced to death.

Defendant prosecuted an appeal to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the judgment was there affirmed. Robinson v. United States, 144 F.2d 392. The defendant petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, which was granted and subsequently the judgment of conviction was affirmed. Robinson v. United States, 324 U.S. 282, 65 S.Ct. 666, 89 L.Ed. 944.

Subsequently, on June 6, 1945, the sentence of death was commuted to life imprisonment. While under service of that sentence, the defendant has petitioned this Court pursuant to Title 28, U.S.C.A. § 2255.

He filed the appropriate affidavit and was granted the right to proceed upon this motion in forma pauperis, and requested the Court to appoint Counsel to represent him. This Court was of opinion he had no right to appoint Counsel, but did, after correspondence with the defendant, write to a list of Attorneys furnished by the defendant and communicated to the Attorneys defendant's desire to have representation by some of them. Two Attorneys volunteered to assist the defendant, but subsequently withdrew from the case and another member of the Louisville Bar volunteered to represent the defendant and considerable delay occurred awaiting the filing of a brief. Finally, the defendant asked the Court to submit the case upon his motion and brief, so that presently the case is submitted upon defendant's motion and brief, the brief of the United States Attorney and a reply brief in the form of a letter filed by defendant. The letter requesting the Court to submit the case was written by defendant on April 6, 1956.

Pursuant to his motion for a hearing and his statement that he desired to introduce testimony in support of the allegations of his motion, defendant was brought from prison in Alcatraz, to Louisville and the motion was set for a hearing. At the hearing, defendant and his Counsel stated that no testimony was to be introduced and he was returned to the United States Penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, where he is now confined.

It should be stated that the defendant is not unfamiliar with the practice of law, the record showing that he attended Vanderbilt University and finished the course necessary for graduation with the exception of a "few subjects". His brief and motion are well prepared, supported by references to many opinions of the courts invoked as authority for his various contentions.

The first five paragraphs of defendant's motion are devoted to a history of his indictment, conviction, commutation of sentence and efforts to secure the second trial in this Court. The several grounds alleged in his motion begin with numbered paragraph VI and extend through numbered paragraph XIV and this memorandum will refer to his grounds as they are set forth in his motion, beginning with ground VI.

He there alleges that the judgment of conviction and sentence is void because he was denied due process of law and his right against self incrimination, as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment and the right to a fair and impartial trial, as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, because the Judge brought to the attention of the jury defendant's former "involuntary plea of guilty". The reference is to the examination of Mr. Thompson Willett and Preston Joyes. In the course of the examination of Mr. Willett by Mr. Hogan, the former stated, "I think every body presumed until this new thing came up that he (referring to Robinson) was guilty, he was found guilty a number of years ago on charges substantially the same as he is meeting today." The Trial Judge made the statement —"He was not found guilty. He pleaded guilty." Later on, in the course of his effort to ascertain whether Mr. Willett was a competent juror, referring to the case in which the former plea of guilty was entered, Judge Miller said— "That case has been thrown out as not being a valid trial, a valid case. If it is going to take evidence to forget that opinion, in other words, if that's an element that's already in your mind and will be in your mind while you are considering this case, then you should not be a juror in this case. If, on the other hand, you can completely disregard that and say that was a former opinion I had but it plays no part in what the facts are now, it is nothing that I am starting with, I am starting as an impartial juror with an open mind on it, then the situation is different." Subsequently, the Court, sua sponte, excused Mr. Willett as a juror.

With respect to the prospective juror Joyes, he was also being examined by Mr. Hogan and said "my opinion was probably the same as 99% of the people, a guilty plea was made and I just assumed that he was guilty", but he further said "I am frank to say that I have no opinion now." When Mr. Hogan, defendant's Counsel, challenged Mr. Joyes, the Court sustained the motion and excused him. Neither Mr. Willett nor Mr. Joyes was accepted as a juror. Moreover, there was no suggestion that their statements, in response to Mr. Hogan's interrogation, prejudiced the case or the minds of the jurors who were accepted. No point was made of the occurrence on the appeal.

This Court finds as a fact that neither the statements of the jurors nor the actions or statements of the Court constituted error or in any wise interfered with the defendant's having a fair trial before an impartial jury.

As a matter of law, the Court holds that if an error occurred in this manner, it could not constitute grounds for vacating a judgment of conviction under Section 2255 of the Code. Davilman v. United States, 6 Cir., 180 F.2d 284; Sunal v. United States, 332 U.S. 174, 67 S.Ct. 1588, 91 L.Ed. 1982; Hill v. United States, 6 Cir., 223 F.2d 699 and Hudspeth v. United States, 6 Cir., 183 F.2d 68.

Ground VII of the motion involves an examination by court-appointed psychiatrists and admission at the trial in evidence of the report of the psychiatrists.

The principal defense of defendant on his plea of not guilty was that at the time of the alleged kidnapping he was insane and therefore, incapable of being responsible for his acts, even though proven to have been committed, as alleged in the indictment.

The record shows that prior to the time of the alleged commission of the offense, the defendant had been adjudged a person of unsound mind and committed to an insane institution in the State of Tennessee, pursuant to valid adjudications by the Courts of that State.

In the case of Robinson v. Johnston, D.C., 50 F.Supp. 774, defendant's claim that he was insane was urged as one of the grounds in support of his contention that his first trial in this Court, after being apprehended, was a nullity.

The record of his trial in this Court in 1943 shows that Judge Miller, prior to the acceptance of defendant's plea, sought first to ascertain whether at that time, the defendant was sane.

This was for the very obvious reason that an adjudication of insanity raised a continuing presumption of mental incapacity. This examination was therefore necessary to determine whether the defendant was mentally capable of understanding the proceedings against him and rationally advising with his Counsel as to his defense.

In Youtsey v. United States, 6 Cir., 97 F. 937, it was said that an insane person could not enter a plea to an arraignment, be subjected to trial or after trial, receive judgment. See also the case of McIntosh v. United States, 6 Cir., 175 F.2d 95. This case involved a plea of insanity before the enactment of Section 4244 of Title 18 U.S.C.A. It is upon this statute that the defendant relies in his motion now under consideration. He says in his brief "At the time of defendant's trial in 1943, there was no statute covering the procedure for...