Court Opinion

ID: 9743855
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:46:50.304489+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:44.423604
License: Public Domain

Opinion Concurring In Result
Hunter, J.
I would agree that judicial opinions sometimes are lacking in fundamental clarity — whether they be authored *433by an Indiana state court or the highest court of our land. However, I do not interpret Gagnon v. Scarpelli as requiring a “full-blown trial” for a convicted parolee who faces parole revocation. In the exercise of judicial restraint, the Supreme Court has mandated a case-by-case approach to the issue before us. In my opinion, the Court in Gagnon v. Scarpelli dealt only with the limited due process right of a convicted probationer or parolee and did not deal with the right to counsel in a criminal prosecution. Therefore, each factual situation is to be examined on its own merits to ensure the fundamental fairness requirement of due process is satisfied. Consequently, the denial of counsel in parole revocation hearings does not per se affront the Constitution, so long as such denial is supported by a record which reflects that fundamental fairness was observed:
“. . . Presumptively, it may be said that counsel should be provided in cases where, after being informed of his right to request counsel, the probationer or parolee makes such a request, based on a timely and colorable • claim (i) that he has not committed the alleged violation of the conditions upon which he is at liberty; or (ii) that, even if the violation is a matter of public record or is uncontested, there are substantial reasons which justified or-mitigated the violation and make revocation inappropriate and that the reasons are complex or otherwise difficult to develop or present. In passing on a request for the appointment of counsel, the responsible agency also should consider, especially in doubtful cases, whether the probationer appears to be capable of speaking effectively for himself. . . .” Gagnon v. Scarpelli (1973), 411 U.S. 778, 36 L. Ed. 656, 666.
I consider the Gagnon requirements neither intolerable nor unclear. Accordingly, I concur only with the result reached by the majority opinion. It is only for the reason that the majority opinion would require the assistance of counsel in all parole revocation hearings that I feel constrained to write this concurring opinion.
Prentice, J., concurs.
Note. — Reported in 304 N. E. 2d 793.