United States v. Sigler, Misc. No. 629.

• Decision Date: 20 December 1963
• Docket Number: Misc. No. 629.
• Citation: 224 F. Supp. 687
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Thomas GOINS v. Maurice SIGLER, Warden (Victor G. Walker, Successor Warden to Maurice Sigler, Warden).
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana

224 F. Supp. 687

UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Thomas GOINS v. Maurice SIGLER, Warden (Victor G. Walker, Successor Warden to Maurice Sigler, Warden).

Misc. No. 629.

United States District Court E. D. Louisiana, Baton Rouge Division.

December 20, 1963.

James D. McGovern, Jr., New Orleans, La., for petitioner.

Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., State of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, La., M. E. Culligan, John E. Jackson, Jr., Asst. Attys. Gen., New Orleans, La., for respondent.

WEST, District Judge.

This matter is once again before this Court on the application of relator, Thomas Goins, for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus. Goins was convicted of murder on October 26, 1955, after trial by jury in a State Court of Louisiana, and on March 14, 1956, the death sentence was imposed. His conviction was appealed to the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana, which Court on February 25, 1957, affirmed the conviction and sentence, 232 La. 238, 94 So.2d 244 (Rehearing Denied April 1, 1957). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on October 14, 1957, 355 U. S. 847, 78 S.Ct. 74, 2 L.Ed.2d 57. Relator then applied to this Court for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus on November 14, 1957, after the execution date had been set for November 29, 1957. On November 27, 1957, this Court, as then constituted, issued a stay of execution and issued an order to respondents to show cause why a writ of habeas corpus should not issue. Thereafter, on December 4, 1957, the writ of habeas corpus was denied, and the stay order previously issued was recalled and rescinded, without written reasons being assigned therefor. An appeal was taken, and on December 12, 1957, the Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, issued a stay order and remanded the matter back to the District Court for hearing on relator's petition. 5 Cir., 250 F.2d 128. The District Court then held a full hearing on relator's petition, and on April 1, 1958, for written reasons assigned, denied the writ of habeas corpus. D.C., 162 F.Supp. 256. Relator then filed a motion for new trial based upon allegations of newly discovered evidence, which motion was denied by this Court, without hearing, on November 18, 1959. However, prior to the time the motion for new trial had been filed, relator had appealed from this Court's ruling of April 1, 1958, and on December 4, 1959, the Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, affirmed the District Court ruling and in effect adopted as their own the reasons assigned on April 1, 1958, by the District Court. 5 Cir., 272 F.2d 148. Relator also appealed the District Court's dismissal of his motion for a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence, and on January 2, 1962, the Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, remanded the case to this Court for hearing on relator's motion for new trial. It is in connection with this remand that the present hearing was held by this Court on April 19, 1963.

Since the facts in connection with the crime charged and the proceedings previously had in this matter are set out in full in this Court's original opinion contained in D.C., 162 F.Supp. 256, those facts will not be repeated herein. Suffice it to say that all questions of possible violations of petitioner's constitutional rights, including the question of whether or not the confession of relator, used during his trial, was a voluntary confession, were considered by both this Court and the Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, as well as the State Courts of Louisiana. As the evidence then stood, the State Courts of Louisiana, this Court, and the Court of Appeals, all found that the confession involved was freely and voluntarily given and was not procured by coercion. The motion for new trial filed by relator is based solely and entirely upon the fact that relator contends that a witness, Benjamin Mackey, who had been charged as a co-defendant with relator, perjured himself during the trial when he testified that neither he, nor relator, had been mistreated in any way by the police officers, and that the confessions given by both of them had been freely and voluntarily given. Relator alleges that Benjamin Mackey has now recanted, and will now testify that the confession involved was not voluntarily given and was obtained only after he and relator were beaten and otherwise mistreated by the police officers in New Orleans. Thus, the sole question now presented is one of credibility. If this Court were to decide that the witness Mackey is now telling the truth, and that he did in fact perjure himself during the trial, then, of course, the question of the validity of petitioner's confession would once again be at issue. But on the other hand, if this Court decides that Mackey cannot now be believed, then the prior findings of this Court, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the State Courts must remain unchanged and the...