Williams v. Beto

• Decision Date: 01 December 1967
• Docket Number: No. 23383.,23383.
• Citation: 386 F.2d 16
• Parties: David Gene WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. Dr. George J. BETO, Director, Texas Department of Corrections, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

386 F.2d 16 (1967)

David Gene WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. Dr. George J. BETO, Director, Texas Department of Corrections, Appellee.

No. 23383.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

December 1, 1967.

David G. Williams, pro se.

Lonny F. Zwiener, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for appellee.

Before WISDOM, BELL and AINSWORTH, Circuit Judges.

WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

The prisoner appeals from the district court's denial of his petition for habeas corpus. He contends that a state court's post-trial hearing on the voluntariness of his confession, introduced in the original trial, was a nullity; Texas law does not specifically authorize such a hearing.¹ He argues, therefore, that he is entitled either to a full new trial or to issuance of the writ. The district court denied the writ on the ground that the Texas Court's hearing complied with the requirements of Jackson v. Denno, 1964, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908. In brief, Jackson v. Denno holds that "the trial judge, another judge, or another jury, but not the convicting jury" should resolve the issue of voluntariness. 378 U.S. at 391, fn. 19, 84 S.Ct. at 1788. We affirm.

David Gene Williams, the petitioner, was convicted of burglary in the District Court of Nueces County, Texas, and sentenced to imprisonment for twelve years. At his trial, the State introduced in evidence his written and signed confession. Williams testified at his trial that the confession was coerced. The district judge, following Texas procedure, submitted the issue of voluntariness to the jury. He instructed the jury to consider the confession as evidence against Williams only if it was freely and voluntarily given. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction. Williams v. State, Tex.Cr.App.1963, 368 S.W.2d 207.

Relying on Jackson v. Denno, Williams sought a writ of habeas corpus in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The court denied the writ without opinion on November 19, 1964. Williams then filed a petition for habeas in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The district court held that the requirements of Jackson had not been met at the original trial, but allowed the state "a reasonable time in which to afford the petitioner with a hearing on the issue of voluntariness or a new trial, failing which petitioner is entitled to his release and the Writ of Habeas Corpus prayed for will issue."

In compliance with this order, the State granted Williams a plenary hearing in the state district court where he was originally convicted. He was represented by counsel and testified in his own behalf. Upon the conclusion of this hearing, the state judge held "that said confession was freely and voluntarily given without abuse, threats or coercion", and certified his findings to the United States District Court. On receipt of the transcript of the state proceedings, the district court held that the requirements of Jackson v. Denno and of Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed. 2d 770, had been met by the state court and denied the petition for habeas corpus.

In Jackson v. Denno the Supreme Court held that the New York procedure of submitting a questionable confession to the jury with instructions to disregard it if it was not voluntary fell short of the requirements of due process. "The Texas procedure * * * is similar to the New York rule in that the trial judge is not bound to resolve conflicting evidence bearing on the voluntariness of the confession before he admits it in evidence to the jury. It follows that the Texas rule does not meet the test adopted by the Supreme Court in Jackson v. Denno." Lopez v. State, Tex.Cr.App.1964, 384 S.W.2d 345, 349, on remand for proceedings consistent with Jackson v. Denno, 1964, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908. See also Harris v. State, Tex.Cr.App.1964, 384 S.W.2d 349, also on remand, 1964, 378 U.S. 572, 84 S.Ct. 1930, 12 L.Ed.2d 1040. In a recent per curiam opinion the Supreme Court clarified Jackson v. Denno:

"This Court has never ruled that all voluntariness hearings must be held outside the presence of the jury, regardless of the circumstances. Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964), held that a defendant\'s constitutional rights are violated when his challenged confession is introduced without a determination by the trial judge of its voluntariness after an adequate hearing. A confession by the defendant found to be involuntary by the trial judge is not to be heard by the jury which determines his guilt or innocence. Hence, because a disputed confession may be found involuntary and inadmissible by the judge, it would seem prudent to hold voluntariness hearings outside the presence of the jury." Pinto v. Pierce, 1967, 389 U.S. 31, 88 S.Ct. 192, 19 L.Ed.2d 31.

Jackson v. Denno makes it clear that a full new trial is not required; a hearing in the state court on the issue of voluntariness suffices. If at this hearing, the state court should find the confession to have been untainted, the defendant would have suffered no prejudice by the fact that the jury which convicted him had the confession before it. If, on the other hand, the court should find that the confession was coerced, there would have to be a new trial with the offensive evidence excluded. The Court recognized that "the states are free to allocate functions between judge and jury as they see fit". 378 U.S. at 391, 84 S.Ct. at 1789. The suggested procedure would most nearly meet the requirements of the federal system, in that the state court, rather than the federal habeas court, would have the primary responsibility.

"As to Jackson, who like Williams has already been convicted and now seeks collateral relief, we cannot say that the Constitution requires a new trial if, in a soundly conducted collateral proceeding, the confession which was admitted at the trial is fairly determined to be voluntary." 378 U.S. at 395-396, 84 S.Ct. at 1791.

At the time Jackson v. Denno was decided, New York, like Texas, had no procedure for conducting a separate post-trial hearing. In discussing this hiatus, the New York Court of Appeals said in People v. Huntley, 1965, 15 N.Y.2d 72, 255 N.Y.S.2d 838, 204 N.E.2d 179, "This is one of the cases in which we are under a compulsion to work out — without benefit of controlling decision, statute or rule — an appropriate procedure for providing the separate hearing mandated by Jackson v. Denno as to the voluntariness of a confession received in evidence against a defendant at his trial." The rules the court worked out provided for a hearing similar to that accorded Williams.²

Jackson is not the only decision in which the Supreme Court has suggested or required that the states hold hearings not expressly sanctioned by their existing law. In Boles v. Stevenson, 1964, 379 U.S. 43, 85 S.Ct. 174, 13 L.Ed.2d 109, also involving a confession, the Court modified a judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which had ordered that a writ of habeas corpus issue unless the state retried the petitioner within a reasonable time. The Supreme Court held that the state might either retry the prisoner or grant a hearing on the disputed issue. The Court's per curiam opinion does not suggest that the law of West Virginia made any provision for such a hearing. In Henry v. State of Mississippi, 1965, 379 U.S. 443, 85 S.Ct. 564, 13 L.Ed.2d 408, the Court had before it on direct review a state conviction in which the defendant asserted that evidence illegally seized had been introduced at his trial. The state contended that objection to the evidence had been waived at the trial. Holding that "only evidence extrinsic to the record before us can establish the fact of waiver," the Court vacated the judgment of conviction, and remanded the case to the state courts for a hearing on the question. 379 U.S. at 452, 85 S.Ct. at 570. Again, the Court did not consider whether Mississippi law permitted such a procedure.

In Burns v. Beto, 5 Cir. 1966, 371 F.2d 598, this Court held that the petitioner was not given an adequate hearing on the voluntariness of his confession. The Court remanded the case to the district court "to allow the State Texas a reasonable time to afford Burns a hearing or a new trial, failing which Burns is entitled to his release". The Court said, "The procedure to be followed is outlined in Part IV of the opinion in Jackson v. Denno". 371 F.2d at 604. See also Black v. Beto, 5 Cir. 1967, 382 F.2d 758; State of Minnesota ex rel. Holscher v. Tahash, 8 Cir. 1966,...