Vera v. Beto, Civ. A. No. 71-C-19.

• Decision Date: 30 August 1971
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 71-C-19.
• Citation: 332 F. Supp. 1197
• Parties: Antonio VERA v. Dr. George J. BETO, Director, Texas Department of Corrections.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

332 F. Supp. 1197

Antonio VERA v. Dr. George J. BETO, Director, Texas Department of Corrections.

Civ. A. No. 71-C-19.

United States District Court, S. D. Texas, Corpus Christi Division.

August 30, 1971.

Guy Allison, Corpus Christi, Tex., for petitioner.

Robert C. Flower, Chief, Enforcement Div., Crawford C. Martin, Atty. Gen. of Texas, and Guy C. Fisher, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for respondent.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

OWEN D. COX, District Judge.

Petitioner's application for a writ of habeas corpus was denied on May 24, 1971. Now, Petitioner's motion for issuance of a certificate of probable cause, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253, and his motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis are before this Court. In order to clarify the reasons for the Court's previous action and that taken today, an expanded discussion of the facts of this case is appropriate.

Petitioner was convicted in separate trials on separate indictments of assault with intent to murder in the 105th Judicial District Court, Nueces County, Texas. He was sentenced to a term of twenty (20) years in each case, and at the time of sentencing in the second case tried, the Court ordered the sentences to be served consecutively. After exhausting his state remedies, Antonio Vera then petitioned this Court for a writ of habeas corpus on three grounds: (1) that his confession was involuntary; (2) that sentences imposed after separate convictions were improperly cumulated; and (3) that Petitioner's Mexican-American ethnic origin prejudiced his cause. Those grounds were rejected by the Honorable Woodrow Seals on June 5, 1969, and by the Court of Appeals in Vera v. Beto, 422 F.2d 1052 (5 Cir., 1970).

After the denial of that writ by the Court of Appeals, Petitioner again asked this Court for a writ, and in this last petition he alleged as grounds: (1) that he had been denied counsel during interrogation; (2) that he had had inadequate representation by counsel at trial and on appeal; (3) that his confession had been involuntary; and (4) that he has been, and is still being, denied court documents, i. e., a statement of facts, upon which to base future collateral attacks of his conviction. The above grounds (1) and (3) were previously considered and rejected by the Court of Appeals in Vera v. Beto, supra, so this District Court was concerned only with grounds (2) and (4) which pertained to adequacy of Petitioner's counsel and the request for court documents. Petitioner's request for court documents, without more, was insufficient. Cowan v. United States, 445 F.2d 855 (5 Cir., 1971).

Thus, the only claimed abuse remaining for consideration was Petitioner's contention of inadequate counsel. This Court reviewed the state court and the prior Federal court habeas corpus proceedings, and was of the opinion that inadequacy of counsel was vigorously asserted by Petitioner before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Vera v. State, 423 S.W.2d 585, and in subsequent state court habeas corpus proceedings, all prior to the filing by Petitioner of his first habeas corpus petition before this Court. Petitioner failed to raise the issue of adequacy of counsel in such petition. He did raise it in this second application for writ of...