Court Opinion

ID: 9479552
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:21:16.47355+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:06.512692
License: Public Domain

COX, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I join in that part of the majority opinion addressing the Baldosar claim. I disagree with the majority’s disposition of the Boy-kin/Burgett claim.
My disagreement with the majority results from our different views of the record in this case. I understand Moore to be alleging simply that her pleas were unknowing and involuntary because they were entered without the benefit of a Boykin hearing. I do not understand her to be claiming that they were in fact unknowing or in fact involuntary. Even if I did think she claimed that her pleas were actually unknowing and involuntary, I would require that she tell the court specifically how they were unknowing or involuntary before she is entitled to an evidentiary hearing.
The fact that no Boykin hearing was held is undisputed. It is obvious, therefore, that the majority does not hold that the absence of a Boykin hearing in and of itself entitles Moore to relief, as otherwise a remand for an evidentiary hearing would be unnecessary. It is clear in this circuit that the absence of a Boykin hearing does not, without more, subject the convictions in question to collateral attack. See Dulin v. Henderson, 448 F.2d 1238 (5th Cir.1971); Dennis v. Henderson, 435 F.2d 1288 (5th Cir.1970).
The habeas petition filed in the district court contained the following allegations (and only the following allegations) as the basis of her attack on the validity of her sentence:
Petitioner’s restraint is contrary to the United States Constitution in the following particulars:
A) Sentencing the Petitioner term of imprisonment based on two prior un-counseled misdemeanor convictions which were also constitutionally invalid because Petitioner was not advised of her rights and did not knowingly and voluntarily waive any such rights violated the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.
B) Using an uncounseled misdemeanor sentence to invoke a minimum statutory jail sentence or to enhance a sentence of confinement violates the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.
C) Sentencing the Petitioner to a term of imprisonment based on two prior convictions, the validity or reliability of which, were not proven under any permissible standard of evidence violated the due process and equal protection guarantees of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.
(Rl, Tab 1, pages 2 & 3). The Magistrate recommended that the petition be denied (Rl, Tab 12). Moore then objected to the Magistrate’s Recommendation (Rl, Tab 13), arguing that the Magistrate did not address her claim that the pleas were not knowingly and voluntarily entered. Her objection stated: “That is, not only were the pleas uncounseled, the pleas were not knowing and voluntary in that they were not taken in open court or even before a judge; they were taken without advisement or waiver of any constitutional right; there was no legal or factual foundation laid.”
No other court presented with Moore’s claims has ever understood them to include a claim that her pleas were in fact unknowing and involuntary. The majority opinion states that “Moore’s petition and supporting papers affirmatively allege that her prior pleas actually were unknowingly and involuntarily made....” The petition *1574clearly included no such allegation, and I fail to find any such allegation in the “supporting papers” filed with the petition. Perhaps this explains why such a claim escaped the attention of the state trial court, the state appellate court, and the district court below.1
Even if we were to construe Moore's claims to include a claim that her pleas were unknowing or involuntary, before requiring an evidentiary hearing, we should require her to tell the court specifically how they were unknowing or involuntary. What should she have known but did not know? In what way was she coerced? Because conclusory allegations not supported by specifics do not entitle Moore to an evidentiary hearing, see Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U.S. 63, 74, 97 S.Ct. 1621, 1629, 52 L.Ed.2d 136 (1977), she should at least be required to amend her petition to allege facts which, if proven, would entitle her to relief.
This court provides Moore an evidentiary hearing she does not seek — either in the district court or in this court — on a claim she does not assert — either in the state courts or in the district court. I therefore dissent.

. I do not understand Moore's briefs on this appeal to assert the claim which the majority posits. Moore’s reply brief in this court states that "the pleas were involuntary and not knowing because there is no record of the pleas and one cannot be reconstructed since there was in fact no procedural or substantive due process at all in the convicting courts." Appellant’s Reply Brief at 5 (emphasis added).