Williams v. Wainwright

• Decision Date: 07 December 1971
• Docket Number: No. 71-1695 Summary Calendar.,71-1695 Summary Calendar.
• Citation: 452 F.2d 775
• Parties: LeRoy WILLIAMS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Louie L. WAINWRIGHT, Director, Division of Corrections, State of Florida, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

452 F.2d 775 (1971)

LeRoy WILLIAMS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Louie L. WAINWRIGHT, Director, Division of Corrections, State of Florida, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 71-1695 Summary Calendar.^*

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

December 7, 1971.

LeRoy Williams, pro se.

P. A. Pacyna, Asst. Atty. Gen. of Fla., Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., for respondent-appellee.

Before JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge, INGRAHAM and RONEY, Circuit Judges.

RONEY, Circuit Judge:

LeRoy Williams, a Florida state prisoner, seeks a writ of habeas corpus contending that his plea of guilty to a robbery charge was coerced and involuntary and that he had inadequate counsel. The district court dismissed the petition on the ground that Williams had failed to exhaust his state remedies. Being unable to find in this record any avenue to state relief still open to petitioner, we reverse and remand.

I.

At the outset it should be noted that the district court did not specifically set forth what further remedy is available to defendant, nor does the state's brief show what remedies remain unexhausted. We then have the difficult task of trying to make a determination of the available state remedies without aid from the district court or the state, and with petitioner, of course, claiming that he knows of no state remedy which he has not pursued to exhaustion.

This review could have been facilitated if the district court had treated the unexhausted state remedy as a finding of fact which must be specifically stated in the manner provided by Rule 52, F.R.Civ.P.¹ Waters v. Beto, 392 F. 2d 74 (5th Cir. 1968). If such a procedure were generally followed, some appeals might even be eliminated because a petitioner, especially one proceeding prose, could learn from the district court's disposition of his case what state forum and what state procedure is still open to him.

II.

The question is whether the issues of the voluntariness of the guilty plea and inadequacy of counsel were ever presented to the state courts. In an opinion on appeal from the initial collateral attack by Williams on the conviction, a Florida appellate court stated that "the voluntariness of the guilty plea of the appellant is not questioned in this case." Williams v. State of Florida, 214 So.2d 29 (Fla.App.1968). Since this opinion was referred to by the court below, it may be that the court thought that Williams had failed to present the issues involved here to the Florida District Court of Appeals.

However, the petitioner thereafter returned to state court by filing another motion to vacate sentence under Florida Criminal Procedure Rule 1.850, 33 F.S. A.² Although the record does not contain that motion, it does contain a brief for petitioner filed in his appeal from a denial of the motion. The brief did argue the issues of coerced plea and inadequate counsel. The denial of relief was affirmed by the Florida Second District Court of Appeals without opinion.

Since petitioner did not seek review by the Florida Supreme Court, we must consider whether that failure supports the contention that Williams has not exhausted his state remedies.³ Under the circumstances of this case, we are of the opinion that a review by the Florida Supreme Court was not available to Williams within the meaning of the habeas corpus provisions of the United States Code. 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Bartz v. Wainwright, 5th Cir. 1971, 452 F.2d 606 Nov. 19, 1971.

The Florida Supreme Court's jurisdiction is strictly described by the Florida Constitution. F.S.A., Const., Art. 5, § 4(2); Lawyers Title Ins. Corp. v. Little River Bank & T. Co., 243 So.2d 417 (Fla.1970). The Florida District Courts of Appeal were created not as intermediate courts of appeal but as the "end of the road" for most appeals. The Florida Supreme Court has the role of maintaining uniformity and harmony in appellate court decisions by resolving conflicts with Supreme Court decisions and conflicts between the districts. Foley v. Weaver Drugs, Inc., 177 So.2d 221 (Fla.1965); Gibson v. Maloney, 231 So. 2d 823 (Fla.1970). In a case such as this, the test of jurisdiction is not whether the Supreme Court believes a decision is incorrect but whether the decision sought to be reviewed conflicts with a decision of the Florida Supreme Court or a decision of a different district court of appeals. Kyle v. Kyle, 139 So.2d 885 (Fla.1962).⁴

There are two factors in this case which weigh heavily against any possibility of Supreme Court review. First, the Florida court of appeals' decision was without an opinion. Although this does not necessarily preclude review by the Florida Supreme Court, it makes "conflict jurisdiction" very difficult to obtain. Foley v. Weaver Drugs, Inc., supra. Second, the issues involved here appear to be primarily questions of fact and not of law.

Accordingly, we hold that in this case the existence of conflict jurisdiction in the Florida Supreme Court with its limited scope offers no practical remedy that Williams was required to exhaust under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Bartz v. Wainwright, 5th Cir. 1971, 452 F.2d 606 Nov. 19, 1971. The requirements of this section are rooted in the doctrine of comity and should not be so construed as to burden the state system with meaningless petitions for relief to...