Court Opinion

ID: 9456583
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:57:18.740953+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:02.144245
License: Public Domain

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
Without verjuice but in lonely dissent I record my soliloquy. I am unable to agree with the majority opinion in this case because I am in accord with the determination of my Brother Coleman that Woodall’s conversations with his attorney were privileged and could not be exposed before the court below without his consent. We must be ever vigilant lest we invade the sacred precincts of the attorney-client privilege which, though sometimes inconvenient for the prosecutor, stands as a sentinel to protect our constitutional right to counsel.
However, unlike my Brother Coleman I would not overrule our prior opinion in Tucker v. United States, 5 Cir. 1969, 409 F.2d 1291, wherein we ordered the district court to determine whether Woodall had actual knowledge of the maximum penalty for the crime for which he was charged. I agree with the court’s decision in that case holding that such knowledge must be affirmatively shown on the face of the record before a guilty plea may be sustained. This precept is as wise now as it was when enunciated and I would not sanction its change.
Since knowledge by Woodall of the maximum penalty is not shown on the record in the present case unless the testimony of Woodall’s counsel is admitted, and I would not admit that testimony, I am back where I began, in agreement with my panel’s original determination of this case, United States v. Woodall, 5 Cir. 1970, 438 F.2d 1317 as modified on petition for rehearing en banc [July 7,1970]. I would therefore reverse.