Court Opinion

ID: 9458895
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:04:41.911122+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:55.939488
License: Public Domain

McCREE, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. As the opinion of the court recites, appellant claims *659that he was denied the right to an appeal because of ineffective assistance of counsel, and that illegally seized evidence was admitted at the trial. The District Court, in denying his petition, relied upon the record made in a post-conviction hearing conducted pursuant to Kentucky RCr 11.42 in the Jefferson Circuit Court as does the opinion of this court.
I have examined the transcript of that proceeding and I cannot determine therefrom whether the pistol, which appellant claims was illegally seized, was admitted at the trial. The transcript of the original trial was not produced, and defense counsel was not asked about the admission of the pistol. Moreover, the record is inadequate to permit a determination whether appellant had standing to object to the search, and, if so, whether the search and seizure comported with constitutional standards.
Also, it is clear from the testimony of defense counsel that appellant spoke to him about an appeal which counsel commenced. Counsel testified that he has no knowledge why the appeal was not perfected, and neither the circuit court nor the Kentucky Court of Appeals made a finding on this point. The District Court’s inference from the silent record ■that appellant must have abandoned the appeal is impermissible. Carnley v. Cochran, 369 U.S. 506, 516, 82 S.Ct. 884, 8 L.Ed.2d 70 (1962).
I would reverse and remand for an ev-identiary hearing as required by Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963).