Webster v. Duckworth
Decision Date | 01 November 1983 |
Docket Number | No. S83-306.,S83-306. |
Parties | Dirk WEBSTER, Petitioner, v. Jack R. DUCKWORTH, Warden, and Indiana Attorney General, Respondents. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana |
Richard Lee Owen II, Lay Advocate, Michigan City, Ind., for petitioner.
Dirk Webster, pro se.
Robert B. Wente, Deputy Ind. Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, Ind., for respondents.
This case is presently before the court on a petition for writ of habeas corpus, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. In accord with the dictates of Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963), the complete state court record has been filed with, and carefully examined by, this court. As per the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b) and Anderson v. Harless, ___ U.S. ___, 103 S.Ct. 276, 74 L.Ed.2d 3 (1982), the petitioner exhausted his available state court remedies prior to the filing of this application for federal habeas relief. Both sides having briefed their respective positions,1 this action is now ripe for ruling.
The petitioner was convicted in a state court jury trial of two counts of murder, Ind.Code § 35-42-1-1, and sentenced to consecutive terms of forty-five years' imprisonment on each count. On direct appeal to the Supreme Court of Indiana, the convictions were reversed and remanded for a second trial. Webster v. State, Ind., 413 N.E.2d 898 (1980) (hereafter, Webster I). Upon retrial, petitioner was again convicted on both murder counts, receiving an identical sentence of forty-five years' imprisonment on each count. On direct appeal to the Supreme Court of Indiana, the convictions were affirmed. Webster v. State, Ind., 442 N.E.2d 1034 (1982) (hereafter, Webster II).
Petitioner raises but a single issue for review: Whether he has been placed in jeopardy twice by virtue of his having been tried two times on the murder charges, thereby violating his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Simply put, petitioner argues that the Supreme Court of Indiana reversed his conviction for the reason that the prosecution at trial had failed to present sufficient evidence to carry its burden and that retrial is necessarily precluded.
The Fifth Amendment's Double Jeopardy guarantee protects against three things: (1) a second prosecution for the same offense after having once been acquitted thereon; (2) a second prosecution for the same offense after a conviction thereon; and, (3) successive punishments for the same offense. Wilson v. Meyer, 665 F.2d 118, 120 (7th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 993, 102 S.Ct. 1621, 71 L.Ed.2d 855 (1982), citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 2076, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969); Washington v. Duckworth, 567 F.Supp. 513, 514 (N.D.Ind.1983). This above guarantee is applicable against the States via the Fourteenth Amendment. Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969).
A particular nuance of this rule is as follows: where an underlying conviction has been vacated and reversed for insufficient evidence, the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment bars further prosecution thereon. Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 98 S.Ct. 2141, 57 L.Ed.2d 1 (1978); Greene v. Massey, 437 U.S. 19, 98 S.Ct. 2151, 57 L.Ed.2d 15 (1978). Where, however, the vacation or reversal of a conviction was not because of insufficient evidence, but rather because of trial court error, double jeopardy does not apply and cannot, therefore, act as a bar to a retrial on the same charges. Id.
The pertinent part of the Indiana Supreme Court's decision in Webster I, supra, at 901 and 902, distinguishes between a reversal based upon insufficiency of the evidence and reversal based upon trial court error, thus presenting the prosecution with one fair opportunity to present its evidence. Because the Court's language therein is essential to a clear understanding of this petition, this court deems it necessary to quote at length therefrom:
The Indiana Supreme Court above held that the...
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Webster v. Duckworth
...Dirk Webster appeals from a judgment entered November 1, 1983 1 in the Northern District of Indiana, Allen Sharp, Chief District Judge, 572 F.Supp. 1271, denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 (1982). Appellant was convicted on two counts of first d......