Title: State v. Clear
Citation: 236 Neb. 648, 463 N.W.2d 581
Docket Number: 1355
State: Nebraska
Issuer: Nebraska Supreme Court
Date: November 30, 1990

463 N.W.2d 581 (1990) 236 Neb. 648 STATE of Nebraska, Appellee, v. William M. CLEAR, Appellant. No. 89-1355. Supreme Court of Nebraska. November 30, 1990. *582 Lorin C. Galvin, Omaha, for appellant. Robert M. Spire, Atty. Gen., and Delores Coe-Barbee, Lincoln, for appellee. HASTINGS, C.J., and BOSLAUGH, WHITE, CAPORALE, SHANAHAN, GRANT, and FAHRNBRUCH, JJ. SHANAHAN, Justice. In his motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Neb.Rev.Stat. §§ 29-3001 et seq. (Reissue 1989), William M. Clear alleged that he was denied the constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel, see U.S. Const. amend. VI and Neb. Const. art. I, § 11, at Clear's hearing for sentencing on his conviction for attempted robbery. Clear claimed that he had ineffective counsel because his lawyer did not supply *583 Clear with the complete presentence report used by the sentencing judge. After an evidential hearing, the district court for Douglas County denied postconviction relief to Clear, who appeals and claims that he was "denied of his due process rights to effective assistance of counsel because [Clear] was denied the opportunity to see and read his pre-sentence report [which] contained a letter which prejudiced [Clear] by containing materially untrue information accusing [Clear] of uncharged crimes." Brief for appellant at 1. State v. Williams, 224 Neb. 114, 116, 396 N.W.2d 114, 116 (1986). Initially, the State charged Clear with attempted robbery of a Ginn Oil food store and use of a firearm in the attempted robbery. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Clear pled guilty to attempted robbery, and the State dismissed the charge that Clear used a firearm in the attempted robbery. Two weeks before the sentence hearing, a probation officer sent a letter to Clear and his lawyer, notifying them that the presentence report on Clear was available for their review. When Clear contacted his lawyer and told him about the letter, the lawyer said that before Clear's sentence hearing, they would review the presentence report, which included a letter from William F. Ginn, president of Ginn Oil Company. Although Clear's lawyer never showed Clear the presentence report before the sentence hearing, the lawyer did discuss the "contents" of the presentence report with Clear, including the Ginn letter. Consequently, before the sentence hearing, Clear never saw the letter from Ginn, but did visit with his lawyer regarding the letter and whether the letter's "allegations were true." Without examining Ginn's letter in the presentence report, Clear, nevertheless, denied the events mentioned in the letter. At the sentence hearing, the court recounted some of the information in the presentence report containing the letter in which Ginn accused Clear of a prior armed robbery of a Ginn Oil food store, the attempted armed robbery involved in the present case, and intimidation of potential witnesses to prevent their testifying against Clear. Regarding the prior armed robbery, Ginn said that Clear "robbed our station on South 13th before [and] used the same gun...." Concerning the present charge, Ginn stated that Clear, wearing a ski mask, entered the robbery site and In the letter, Ginn also requested that the court sentence Clear to "jail where he needs to be to learn how to be a deserving citizen of our community." When the court inquired whether there was "[a]nything either party wishes to say *584 as regards the matter of sentencing in this particular case," Clear's lawyer responded: After the statements by Clear's lawyer, the court asked, "Anything you wish to say, Mr. Clear?" Clear answered: After the foregoing comments, Clear's statements to the court related, generally, to Clear's personal history, including his prior convictions, with no reference to or question concerning the circumstances of the attempted robbery or the contents of Ginn's letter which was in the presentence report and had been mentioned by Clear's lawyer during the sentence hearing. After the court sentenced Clear to imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years, this court summarily affirmed the district court's judgment. See State v. Clear, 227 Neb. xxiv (case No. 87-916, Mar. 16, 1988). Due process requires that a sentencing judge have relevant information as the basis for a sentence imposed on a convicted defendant. State v. Barker, 231 Neb. 430, 436 N.W.2d 520 (1989); State v. Goodpasture, 215 Neb. 341, 338 N.W.2d 446 (1983); State v. Porter, 209 Neb. 722, 310 N.W.2d 926 (1981); State v. Rose, 183 Neb. 809, 164 N.W.2d 646 (1969). In a sentence hearing, a court, generally, has broad discretion concerning the source of information and the type of information to be considered. United States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 92 S. Ct. 589, 30 L. Ed. 2d 592 (1972); Williams v. New York, 337 U.S. 241, 69 S. Ct. 1079, 93 L. Ed. 1337 (1949). "A sentencing judge may consider relevant information contained in a presentence report on the defendant to determine an appropriate sentence within the statutorily authorized penalty, punishment, or disposition applicable to the crime for which the defendant has been convicted." State v. Bunner, 234 Neb. 879, 889, 453 N.W.2d 97, 103 (1990). "[A] convicted defendant, even in a noncapital case, has a due process right to inquire into an incorrect assumption by the sentencing judge, untrue information materially affecting a prospective sentence, or other misinformation which a court may use in determining what sentence will be imposed." State v. Barker, supra at 435, 436 N.W.2d at 523. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 29-2261(6) (Reissue 1989) statutorily regulates access to a presentence report: As a result of the qualified right to review the entire presentence report on the defendant, a convicted defendant, with counsel, may examine the presentence report subject to the court's supervision, which includes the court's redaction of any information deemed confidential or privileged. State v. True, 236 Neb. 274, 460 N.W.2d 668 (1990). A waiver is the voluntary and intentional relinquishment of a known right, privilege, or claim, and may be expressed by word or inferred from, or demonstrated by, a person's conduct. State v. Kennedy, 224 Neb. 164, 396 N.W.2d 722 (1986). "A voluntary waiver, knowingly and intelligently made, must affirmatively appear from the record, before a court may conclude that a defendant has waived a right constitutionally guaranteed or granted by statute." State v. Kennedy, supra at 170, 396 N.W.2d at 726. See, also, State v. Blue, 223 Neb. 379, 391 N.W.2d 102 (1986); State v. Miles, 202 Neb. 126, 274 N.W.2d 153 (1979). From the testimony of Clear's lawyer concerning his conference with Clear before the sentence hearing, the district court, in resolving a factual question, undoubtedly concluded that Clear and his lawyer thoroughly discussed the contents of Ginn's letter contained in the presentence report. Such conclusion by the district court is not only logical, but inescapable. At the sentence hearing, Clear's lawyer addressed the contents of Ginn's letter and explicitly denied that Clear had previously robbed a Ginn Oil store. Immediately after that denial through Clear's lawyer, the court very specifically and directly asked Clear whether he wished to say anything, an obvious inquiry whether Clear had any comment or question concerning information which had been presented at the sentence hearing, including the Ginn letter. Notwithstanding the court's inquiry, Clear never mentioned that he had not seen the Ginn letter and made no comment about the existence or contents of the letter, which was immediately and physically available to Clear. In reference to the Ginn letter and whatever transpired before the sentence hearing, the fact remains that the letter was available for Clear's inspection at the sentence hearing. Clear's failure to raise any question about the Ginn letter or his lawyer's statements concerning the letter demonstrated that Clear acknowledged the contents of Ginn's letter as related by Clear's lawyer and accepted his lawyer's statements as an accurate and sufficient response to the assertions in Ginn's letter. As affirmatively shown by the record, Clear's conduct regarding the Ginn letter was a waiver of any later complaint that Clear had not personally inspected the letter before sentence was imposed. Hence, the Clear waiver renders the assignment of error without merit. Moreover, notwithstanding Clear's qualified right to inspect the Ginn letter as a part of the presentence report and assuming that Clear did not waive that right, Clear has not pointed to any prejudice from the absence of an inspection. As expressed in State v. Hawthorne, 230 Neb. 343, 347, 431 N.W.2d 630, 633 (1988): Assuming that appropriate legal representation required that Clear be shown the Ginn letter in the presentence report, Clear has failed to demonstrate in what manner he sustained detriment from *586 the absence of his inspection of the letter or how Clear's inspection of Ginn's letter would have reasonably and probably resulted in a sentence different from that actually imposed. While acknowledging that his lawyer denied the contents of the Ginn letter, Clear never suggests that he would have addressed the contents of Ginn's letter any differently from his lawyer's action at the sentence hearing. Neither at his postconviction hearing nor in his appeal has Clear indicated that his personally inspecting the Ginn letter would have altered the course of the sentence hearing or affected information presented to the sentencing court beyond Clear's denial, through his lawyer, concerning the contents of the Ginn letter. Consequently, Clear has failed to establish the second component in the two-part test to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, that is, Clear has failed to show that the absence of his personal inspection of the Ginn letter prejudiced Clear's constitutional right to due process at his sentence hearing. We find no error in the district court's denying postconviction relief to Clear. AFFIRMED.