Title: Thompson v. State
Citation: 412 P.2d 628
Docket Number: 626
State: Alaska
Issuer: Alaska Supreme Court
Date: March 31, 1966

412 P.2d 628 (1966) Henry Allen THOMPSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Alaska, Appellee. No. 626. Supreme Court of Alaska. March 31, 1966. Before NESBETT, C.J., and DIMOND and RABINOWITZ, JJ. PER CURIAM. Appellant's court appointed appeal counsel has advised the court that after detailed investigation and research he has been unable to find any meritorious ground for appeal and asks for further instructions. Appellant was indicted for forgery, burglary and grand larceny. Adele Majors was indicted jointly with appellant on the forgery count and separately for receiving stolen property. At their arraignment William Moran, Esq. was appointed by the court to represent both defendants. After pleas of not guilty had been entered by both defendants as to all counts, their counsel moved that the cases be separated and that other counsel be appointed for appellant. The motion was granted and Lester Miller, Esq. was appointed to represent appellant. For some reason not explained in the record Robert Libbey, Esq. was then substituted as counsel for appellant in the place of Mr. Miller. After the trial jury had been selected appellant's counsel moved to suppress certain evidence. After argument decision on the motion was reserved. On the following morning counsel withdrew his motion for suppression. The court at the same time granted a previous motion of appellant for sequestration of certain witnesses to prevent discussion of the case during trial. At the close of the state's case in the third day of trial the court granted counsel for appellant's motion for a judgment of acquittal as to Count IV charging grand larceny. In the afternoon of the third day of trial, after appellant had taken the stand *629 and had been examined and cross-examined at length, appellant advised the court that he desired to withdraw his plea of not guilty to Count I and enter a plea of guilty. Thereupon, upon the recommendation of the court and on the motion of the District Attorney, Counts III and IV of the indictment were dismissed. Only Adele Majors was named in Count II. The jury was discharged and a presentence investigation ordered. The trial transcript reports the following proceedings with relation to the above: On May 25, 1965 appellant wrote to Superior Court Judge Fitzgerald who was handling his case, accusing his first court appointed counsel of a lack of interest in his case because of the small fee involved and of attempting by trickery to induce him to plead guilty by stating that unless he did so his co-defendant would turn state's evidence against him; that his alternate court appointed counsel threatened to withdraw from the case during trial unless he (Thompson) agreed to plead guilty to the count of forgery in consideration of which the district attorney would drop the charges of burglary and larceny and that because of his counsel's insistence, assurance or guarantee that he would receive probation he pleaded guilty to a charge of which he was innocent. The letter further charged that the probation officer advised appellant that he disbelieved his story and during their interviews pressured him into admitting guilt of the charges of burglary and larceny by giving the impression that by so admitting his guilt, his chances of probation would be increased. At or about the time appellant was composing the foregoing letter accusing his court appointed counsel of duplicity, counsel was attempting to find employment for appellant in order to improve his chance of obtaining a suspension of sentence. On June 4, 1965 the court heard appellant's motion for suspension of sentence and the following proceedings were had: Notice of appeal was filed by appellant and application made for the appointment of counsel to prosecute the appeal in forma pauperis. Appellant's application was treated as an application to vacate sentence under Criminal Rule 35(b) and denied with the entry of the following order: The defendant, Henry Allen Thompson, filed in Superior Court a notice of appeal in the above entitled case and designated the entire record as points of appeal and grounds. Along with his notice of appeal, he, by letter, made application to proceed in forma pauperis and for the appointment of an attorney to prosecute his appeal. Judgment was entered on April 7, 1965 imposing a sentence of one to 20 years for the crime of Forgery as charged in Count I of the indictment. The defendant, Henry Allen Thompson, was brought to trial on March 15, 1965. A jury was impaneled and evidence was taken. On March 17, 1965 the defendant undertook to testify in his own behalf, and at the conclusion of his testimony, the defendant's counsel rested the case. Thereafter the defendant in the absence of the jury entered his plea of guilty to Count I of the indictment. Counts III and IV of the indictment were then dismissed and on April 7, 1965 sentence was imposed upon the defendant. From the defendant's own testimony, under oath, at the time of trial it was clear that the defendant admitted making the forged instrument and accompanying one Adele Majors, also convicted, to Caribou's Department Store *633 for the purpose of cashing said forged instrument. Defendant now seeks to appeal in forma pauperis, and I find that appeal is not appropriate. His application to proceed in forma pauperis is denied. Treating his notice of appeal as a petition to vacate sentence under Rule 35(b), I find that said petition should be and is hereby dismissed. MADE and ENTERED at Anchorage, Alaska, this 14th day of June, 1965. On June 18, 1965, in response to appellant's application for a writ of habeas corpus, the following order was entered: Petitioner has made an application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus requesting a copy of the United States Constitution, Alaska State Constitution and the Alaska Statutes. Treating the petition as an application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, said application is denied. Treating the application as a request for the use of law books, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED. That said petitioner is furnished the Court's copies of the Alaska Rules of Court Procedure and Administration; Title 9 to 16, Alaska Statutes; and Title 1 to 8, Alaska Statutes, for a period of TWENTY-ONE (21) Days, subject to an application for an additional period. The Clerk of the Court is directed to send petitioner a certified copy of this Order, together with the authorized books. MADE and ENTERED at Anchorage, Alaska, this 18th day of June, 1965. On June 29, 1965 this court granted appellant's application to appeal in forma pauperis and appointed Seaborn J. Buckalew, Jr., as his counsel. Appellant's only point on appeal was that his plea of guilty was an improvident and involuntary act. On November 26, 1965 this court received the following letter from appellant's court appointed counsel: Appellant's point on appeal as expressed to his counsel on appeal, was that his plea of guilty was involuntary and a nullity because coerced by his trial counsel, who threatened to withdraw unless he pleaded guilty and additionally that his trial counsel had assured him or guaranteed that if he would plead guilty, he would receive probation. However, subsequent to execution of his affidavit making the above claims, appellant advised his counsel for appeal in writing that as a matter of fact he did not recall his trial counsel guaranteeing that probation would be offered through the District Attorney's office, but only that he knew who the interviewing probation officer would be and could guarantee that probation would be recommended and would go that evening and make the necessary arrangements. *635 In view of the above admission all that remained of appellant's original point on appeal was that his trial counsel had personally guaranteed that the probation officer would recommend probation and that trial counsel had threatened to withdraw from the case unless appellant would consent to enter a plea of guilty to the forgery charge in consideration of the district attorney's offer to dismiss the burglary and larceny counts. It was after nearly three days of trial that appellant withdrew his plea of not guilty to the forgery count and entered a plea of guilty. Twelve witnesses for the state had been heard and appellant had taken the stand and testified in his own behalf. Adele Majors, appellant's co-defendant on the forgery count, had testified for the state that appellant had left their apartment one evening and upon his return had delivered to her a check which the state claimed had been stolen and that she had gone to Caribou's department store with appellant where she signed and cashed it. Appellant's testimony was that certain blank checks and typing equipment had been left with him by another person; that he, while drinking, typed a name on one of the checks and that Adele Majors signed and cashed it at Caribou's store while appellant waited in the store. A review of the record, particularly the transcript of testimony, leads us to believe that under the circumstances it may perhaps have been advisable for appellant's counsel to recommend that appellant change his plea to guilty in the hope of obtaining greater consideration than he would have been able to obtain had the case been submitted to the jury and a verdict of guilty returned. We also note that during investigation of the merits of the appeal by appellant's appeal counsel, appellant's trial counsel categorically denied that he had guaranteed probation or threatened to withdraw unless appellant changed his plea on the forgery charge. At the hearing on modification of sentence held in the trial court on June 4, 1965 the trial judge had before him appellant's letter of May 25, 1965 containing the charges against trial counsel and the probation officer and obviously had considered, and to some extent had investigated, the allegations. The judge stated unequivocally that from his knowledge of the facts of the case the charges were totally unfounded. Appellant was invited to and did make an unsworn statement to the court. This statement consisted of a plea that he be permitted his freedom to accept employment obtained for him by his trial counsel. No mention was made of the charges upon which the judge had just commented. In spite of the foregoing we find it necessary to remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings. The reason is that appellant's only point on appeal presents an issue of fact which cannot be resolved in an appeal and which should have been determined in an acceptable manner by the trial court. Appellant claims that he was coerced into withdrawing his plea of not guilty and entering a plea of guilty by his court appointed counsel, who threatened to withdraw if this was not done, at the same time assuring him that if he did so he (counsel) would guarantee that the probation officer would recommend probation. These and additional charges were made by appellant in his letter of May 25, 1965 to the judge. This letter was in the judge's possession at the June 4, 1965 hearing, which treated appellant's application for suspension of sentence as an application to vacate sentence under Criminal Rule 35(b). The judge commented extensively on the charges and generally found them to be without substance. We are now able to perceive in hindsight that what should have been done at the hearing was to place appellant, his counsel and the probation officer under oath and conduct a full fact hearing on the record on appellant's charges, giving full opportunity for cross-examination. The trial *636 court should then have weighed the testimony and filed written findings of fact and a decision. The facts in this case bear some similarity to those considered by the United States Supreme Court in Sanders v. United States[1] where, in spite of the intimate knowledge of the trial judge of all proceedings being later questioned, it was held that the judge should have conducted a full fact hearing. Here the charges made by appellant against his court appointed counsel and the probation officer were in support of a request for modification of sentence so that he could obtain his freedom on probation. The court found that the charges were unsubstantiated based upon its own knowledge, investigation, and conversations had with persons directly involved, none of which was contained in the record. Our accumulating experience in dealing with these situations according to the requirements of recent United States Supreme Court decisions emphasizes the desirability of making findings of fact on possible constitutional questions at the trial court level at the earliest appropriate occasion. In this respect the court stated in Sanders v. United States at 373 U.S. 22, 83 S. Ct. 1081, 10 L.Ed.2d 165: Upon remand it shall become the duty of the trial court to resolve the issue of fact presented by appellant's charges against his court appointed counsel and the probation officer and to file written findings and decision. In determining whether the presence of the appellant is required at fact hearings growing out of post conviction petitions, the remarks of the United States Supreme Court in Sanders v. United States should be considered:[3] At the fact hearing to be held in this case it is suggested to the trial court that the proceeding be expanded sufficiently to create a record upon which specific findings can be made upon as many of the following matters as may be applicable, in addition to any others that may be raised by appellant: (1) Did the court have jurisdiction; (2) Was the plea of guilty voluntarily made; (3) Was petitioner adequately represented by competent counsel at time of plea or at his trial; (4) If petitioner was not represented by counsel at time of plea, did he intelligently waive counsel after full explanation by the court as to his right to have counsel appointed and the importance of counsel to him; (5) Was there any suppression of evidence or knowing use of perjured testimony by the prosecuting attorney; (6) Were any confessions used which were not voluntarily made or illegally obtained; (7) Was petitioner mentally competent, able to understand the nature of the proceedings and to cooperate with counsel at all stages of the proceedings; and (8) Was the sentence within the statutory range. The case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with the requirements of this opinion. The findings of fact and decision of the trial court shall be forwarded to the Clerk of this court when filed. Appeal counsel heretofore appointed is relieved of further responsibility and shall be compensated in the sum of $250.00 for services rendered. The appeal heretofore filed shall remain in force until further order. [1] 373 U.S. 1, 20, 83 S. Ct. 1068, 10 L. Ed. 2d 148, 164 (1963). [2] Although the court was discussing hearings held pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, the same principle and approach has been recommended to all state courts concerned with post conviction petitions by Mr. Justice Brennan in his "Statement on Post Conviction Remedies" made to the Advisory Council of Judges of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. [3] 373 U.S. at 20, 21, 83 S. Ct. at 1080, 10 L. Ed. 2d at 164. [4] The State of Alaska maintains a large percentage of its prisoners in institutions located in other states. The office of the Commissioner of Public Safety of Alaska estimates that the cost of transporting a state prisoner from Leavenworth, Kansas to Anchorage, Alaska for a two day hearing and return to prison is $1,373.00 and from McNeil Island, Washington, $712.00.