Title: State v. Robinson

State: nebraska

Issuer: Nebraska Supreme Court

Document:

352 N.W.2d 879 (1984) 218 Neb. 156 STATE of Nebraska, Appellee, v. Darwin Jay ROBINSON, Sr., Appellant. No. 84-010. Supreme Court of Nebraska. July 27, 1984. Darwin Jay Robinson, Sr., pro se. Paul L. Douglas, Atty. Gen., and Calvin D. Hansen, Lincoln, for appellee. *880 KRIVOSHA, C.J., and BOSLAUGH, WHITE, HASTINGS, CAPORALE, SHANAHAN, and GRANT, JJ. KRIVOSHA, Chief Justice. The appellant, Darwin Jay Robinson, Sr., appeals from a judgment entered by the district court for Douglas County, Nebraska, denying to Robinson relief pursuant to the Nebraska Post Conviction Act, Neb. Rev.Stat. §§ 29-3001 et seq. (Reissue 1979). Robinson maintains that the trial court erred in failing to find he had ineffective assistance of counsel at a pretrial suppression hearing and again on appeal to this court. We believe that both contentions are wholly without merit, and for that reason the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. The facts which give rise to all of this litigation disclose that in the early morning hours of January 31, 1981, a convenience store attendant, Marvin Pfeifer, was robbed at knife point. Just as the robber was leaving, another attendant, Michael Klaumann, came on duty and passed by the robber. As Klaumann entered the store, Pfeifer told him that he had been robbed. Klaumann returned to the street, got into his automobile, and followed a white Buick, as it was the only other car on the street at that time. The driver resembled the individual who passed by Klaumann when Klaumann was entering the store. Klaumann obtained the license number, followed the car to an apartment building, and gave this information to the police. The authorities then went to the location provided by Klaumann and towed the automobile away. Shortly thereafter, a woman representing herself to be Robinson's wife reported to the police that their car had been stolen or towed away. Investigating officers arrived at Robinson's apartment and spoke with the woman who said she called the police and who held herself out to be Robinson's wife. It later developed that, in fact, the individual was not Robinson's wife but, rather, a Miss Edna Lyncook, who had been instructed by Robinson to represent herself to the police as Robinson's wife. The real Mrs. Robinson was hiding in a bedroom of the apartment when the police arrived. One of the investigating officers asked Miss Lyncook, who was then representing herself to be Mrs. Robinson, whether he could have a photograph of Mr. Robinson. There is a dispute as to whether Miss Lyncook consented, but at the suppression hearing the trial court resolved that fact in favor of the State. The officer then left the location and returned to the convenience store, where he showed a photograph of Robinson to the attendants. Klaumann immediately identified the photograph as being a picture of the robber. In the meantime, and while the officer was at the convenience store, Miss Lyncook admitted to the officers that in fact she was not Mrs. Robinson and that Robinson was upstairs in her apartment. The officers went upstairs to the Lyncook apartment and arrested Robinson. After his arrest Robinson was taken downstairs to his apartment to get a coat. At this point the real Mrs. Robinson was located and advised of her husband's arrest, and was requested by the officers to grant them consent to search the apartment for certain items believed to have been worn by Robinson at the time of the robbery. She consented to the search, and a blue jacket similar to the type described by Klaumann was found. While awaiting trial on the charges, Robinson was housed at the Douglas County Correction Center. A regularly paid informant of the State Patrol, a Mr. Koppock, was also being held there after being arrested on charges of assault and receiving stolen property. During the time Robinson and Koppock were incarcerated together, Robinson admitted to Koppock that he had robbed Pfeifer at the convenience store, using a butcher knife. The sometime informant testified at the trial. Furthermore, at the trial both Klaumann and Pfeifer identified Robinson as the robber. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on both the robbery and use of a knife charges, and the court found that Robinson was a habitual criminal. *881 Robinson's first assignment of error is to the effect that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his trial counsel did not call Edna Lyncook at the suppression hearing to testify that she was not in fact Robinson's wife, had lied to the police when she told them she was his wife, and did not give consent to the officers for the photograph. Miss Lyncook was in fact called later at the actual trial by the State and testified to all that had occurred, including her false statements to the police. Following his conviction, an appeal was lodged with this court, and court-appointed counsel, pursuant to court rule, filed a motion to withdraw. That motion was considered in detail by this court and an order entered sustaining the motion to withdraw and affirming the conviction and sentence. Robinson maintains that by filing a motion to withdraw he again received ineffective assistance of counsel because there were two valid errors which should have been raised and argued to this court. The first error which Robinson maintains would have entitled him to a reversal was the inadmissibility of the photograph allegedly illegally obtained from Miss Lyncook and which was in plain sight, and, second, the testimony of Koppock to the effect that Robinson admitted committing the robbery. Before addressing each of these matters individually, we believe it to be of some value to note the rules generally with regard to a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. In State v. Holtan, 205 Neb. 314, 319, 287 N.W.2d 671, 675 (1980), we said: "[W]here one maintains that counsel was inadequate one must likewise show how or in what manner the alleged inadequacy prejudiced the defendant." We further said in Holtan at 320, 287 N.W.2d at 675: This view has since been wholly adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court in its recent decision in Strickland v. Washington, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 2064-67, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984), wherein the Court there said: An error by counsel, even if professionally unreasonable, does not warrant setting aside the judgment of a criminal proceeding if the error had no effect on the judgment. Cf. United States v. Morrison, 449 U.S. 361, 364-365, 101 S. Ct. 665, 667-668, 66 L. Ed. 2d 564 (1981). The purpose of the Sixth Amendment guarantee of counsel is to ensure that a defendant has the assistance necessary to justify reliance on the outcome of the proceeding. Accordingly, any deficiencies in counsel's performance must be prejudicial *882 to the defense in order to constitute ineffective assistance under the Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court then went on to say in 104 S.Ct. at 2068-69: While we do not for a moment accept Robinson's argument that the photograph was illegally obtained or should have been suppressed or that it was error to permit the photograph to have been offered in evidence, nevertheless, even assuming the argument to have validity, Robinson has not met his burden in cases of this nature. The evidence of guilt in this case was overwhelming. There were two eyewitnesses to the robbery, both of whom the evidence discloses had more than adequate time to observe Robinson and were therefore clearly able to identify him in court. Furthermore, once Miss Lyncook conceded to officers, as she did, that she was attempting to pervert justice and assist in hiding the commission of a crime, Robinson would have been arrested, even without the photograph. The photograph played no material role in convicting Robinson. That the investigating officer obtained an identification from the convenience store attendants regarding Robinson at the very moment that Miss Lyncook was admitting to her actions seeking to give false information to the police is of no material significance. The trial court was absolutely correct in disregarding this as evidence of ineffective assistance of counsel. Likewise, Robinson's claim that he received ineffective assistance of counsel in this court on appeal because a brief was not filed and, instead, counsel filed a motion to withdraw is wholly without merit. Upon the filing of the motion to withdraw, the court made a careful study of both the record and the legal arguments which would have been raised had briefs been filed. It was clear that neither the contention regarding the photograph nor the testimony of Koppock had any merit. Voluntary statements made to third persons who were not then acting as police officers or their equivalent are not inadmissible, even though the individual did not receive his Miranda warnings. See State v. Crouch, 205 Neb. 781, 290 N.W.2d 207 (1980). Koppock was in jail because of his own misconduct and not at the direction of the police. Robinson freely and voluntarily made his confession to Koppock, and that was clearly admissible. There is simply no basis to Robinson's contention that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and the trial court was *883 correct in denying the requested relief. The judgment is affirmed. AFFIRMED.