Case Title: Dobson v. State

Citation: 177 N.E.2d 395, 242 Ind. 267

Docket Number: 30,150

State: indiana

Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Date: 1961-10-17T00:00:00Z

Document:
242 Ind. 267 (1961)
177 N.E.2d 395
DOBSON
v.
STATE OF INDIANA.
No. 30,150.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed October 17, 1961.
Rehearing denied November 21, 1961.
*268 Richard Dean Dobson, pro se.
Edwin K. Steers, Attorney General, for appellee.
BOBBITT, J.
In July of 1958 appellant, Dobson, was tried by jury and found guilty of receiving stolen goods. On July 3, 1958, judgment was entered upon such verdict assessing a fine in the sum of $500, *269 and sentencing appellant to the Indiana State Prison for a period of not less than one or more than ten years.
On October 9, 1958, an appeal from such judgment was filed in this court. The judgment of the trial court was affirmed on May 21, 1959, and a petition for rehearing denied on September 17, 1959.
On April 6, 1961, appellant filed in the Saint Joseph Superior Court, Number Two, his petition for writ of error coram nobis, and from a judgment denying such writ this appeal is prosecuted.
All questions which appellant attempts to raise are covered by his assignment of error No. 1, which is as follows:
In considering an appeal from a judgment denying a petition for a writ of error coram nobis, we are governed by the following well-settled rules:
In appellant's petition for the writ he alleged (a) that the indictment failed to charge a public offense, and that the offense was not charged with sufficient certainty; (b) that he was held in jail for a period in excess of two months before an indictment was returned; that he was not permitted to be present at the impaneling of the grand jury; and that he was at that time without counsel; (c) that the State's attorney suppressed certain evidence at the time of the trial; (d) that there was a variance between the date alleged in the indictment and the date given by witnesses for the State as the date when the alleged *271 crime was committed; (e) that one of his witnesses failed to answer a subpoena and appear at the trial; (f) that the verdict of the jury was not "responsive to the charge contained in the indictment"; and (g) that his court-appointed trial counsel was incompetent.
Allegations (a) to (f), inclusive, of the petition are facts which were known to appellant at the time of his trial and could, at that time, have been submitted to the trial court and adjudicated. Having failed to do so, any questions pertaining thereto are waived and cannot now be presented in a proceeding for a writ of error coram nobis. Dowling et al. v. State, supra (1954), 233 Ind. 426, 430, 118 N.E.2d 801; Copeland v. State, supra (1961), 242 Ind. 290, 176 N.E.2d 894, 895.
No evidence was submitted by appellant to overcome the presumption that his trial counsel properly and competently represented him at his trial. However, if we were to consider the allegations of appellant's petition, which were denied by the State, as true, they are in our judgment without merit and not sufficient to overcome the presumption with which his attorney is clothed.
A proper remedy was afforded appellant by the appeal from his conviction, and he may not now employ coram nobis as a substitute in order to bring these questions before this court. Yessen v. State (1955), 234 Ind. 311, 315, 126 N.E.2d 760.
For the foregoing reasons the judgment of the trial court must be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
*272 Landis, C.J., Achor, Arterburn and Jackson, JJ., concur.
NOTE.  Reported in 177 N.E.2d 395.