HUDSON v. NORTH CAROLINA.
No. 466
Supreme Court of the United States
June 20, 1960
Argued May 16, 1960.
363 U.S. 697
Ralph Moody, Assistant Attorney General of North Carolina, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was T. W. Bruton, Attorney General.
MR. JUSTICE STEWART delivered the opinion of the Court.
The petitioner and two others were brought to trial before a jury in the Superior Court of Cumberland County, North Carolina, upon an indictment jointly charging them with robbery. When their case was called
All three of the defendants thereupon pleaded not guilty, and the case proceeded immediately to trial. The first witness for the State was the alleged victim of the robbery. Midway through this witness‘s testimony Cain‘s lawyer offered to represent all three codefendants “as long as their interests don‘t conflict.” At the conclusion of the witness‘s direct testimony the trial judge advised the lawyer that he should cross-examine only on behalf of Cain, because “I think you probably have a conflicting interest there.” Thereafter the witness was cross-examined intensely by Cain‘s lawyer, who brought out the witness‘s criminal record and previous commitment to a state mental institution. The petitioner and the other codefendant also briefly cross-examined the witness. The only other witnesses for the prosecution were two deputy sheriffs, who testified as to statements made to them by the defendants. They were cross-examined by the lawyer, but not by the two defendants without counsel.
At the conclusion of the State‘s evidence, Cain‘s lawyer moved that the case be dismissed. When this motion was
The trial proceeded. The petitioner and his remaining codefendant each took the stand. Each made a statement denying the robbery. The petitioner was cross-examined at some length, with emphasis upon his previous criminal record. Neither the petitioner nor his codefendant produced any other witnesses or offered any further evidence. They were given an opportunity to argue their case to the jury, but did not do so.
The jury found both defendants guilty of larceny from the person, a felony under North Carolina law, and the following day the trial judge pronounced sentence. The petitioner was committed to the penitentiary for a term of three to five years. The codefendant convicted with him was sentenced to a jail term of eighteen months to two years. Cain was given a six months’ suspended sentence.
The petitioner‘s subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court of North Carolina was dismissed for want of prosecution. Thereafter he filed in the trial court a “petition for writ of certiorari,” which urged that the failure of the trial court to provide him with counsel had deprived him of his constitutional rights. This petition was treated as an application for relief under the North Carolina Post-Conviction Hearing Act.3 In the subsequent proceedings the court appointed a lawyer to represent the petitioner,4 and held a hearing at which the petitioner
The judge who presided at the post-conviction proceedings made detailed findings of fact. He found that the trial judge had “advised the petitioner of his right to challenge when the jury was selected and advised the petitioner of his right to cross examine witnesses and to
In this Court counsel for the petitioner does not take issue with these findings. Counsel‘s primary emphasis rather is upon the petitioner‘s comparative youth, relying upon Wade v. Mayo, 334 U.S. 672. In that case it was held that the denial of a lawyer‘s help had resulted in the deprivation of due process where the Federal District Court after a habeas corpus hearing had found that the eighteen-year-old defendant was “an inexperienced youth unfamiliar with Court procedure, and not capable of adequately representing himself.” 334 U.S., at 683. Here, by contrast, the post-conviction court found that “although the petitioner was only eighteen years of age and had been only to the sixth grade in school at the time of his trial, he is intelligent, well informed, and was familiar with and experienced in Court procedure and criminal trials. . . .” Evaluations of this nature are peculiarly within the province of the trier of the facts based upon personal observation. As the Court pointed out in Wade v. Mayo, “[t]here are some individuals who, by reason of age, ignorance or mental capacity, are incapable of representing themselves adequately in a prosecution of a relatively simple nature. This incapacity is purely personal and can be determined only by an examination and observation of the individual.” 334 U.S., at 684.
In view of the findings of the post-conviction court, supported by the record of the trial proceedings, this, in short, is not a case where it can be said that the failure to appoint counsel for the defendant resulted in a constitutionally unfair trial either because of deliberate overreaching by court or prosecutor or simply because of
But that did not happen. Instead, on the advice of his counsel Cain entered a plea of guilt in the presence of the jury midway through the trial. The potential prejudice of such an occurrence is obvious and has long been recognized by the courts of North Carolina. State v. Hunter, 94 N. C. 829, 835; State v. Bryant, 236 N. C. 745, 747, 73 S. E. 2d 791, 792; State v. Kerley, 246 N. C. 157, 97 S. E. 2d 876. Yet it was precisely at this moment of great potential prejudice that the petitioner and his codefendant were left entirely to their own devices, for it was then that Cain‘s lawyer withdrew from the case. At that very point the petitioner and his codefendant were left to go it alone.
The precise course to be followed by a North Carolina trial court in order to cure the prejudice that may result from a codefendant‘s guilty plea does not appear to have been made entirely clear by the North Carolina decisions. In the Hunter case the Supreme Court of North Carolina pointed out that while not infrequently a defendant on trial with another is allowed to enter a plea of guilt during the course of the trial, the court should exercise care “to see that such practice works no undue prejudice to another party on trial.” 94 N. C., at 835. Later cases have been somewhat more explicit. In the Bryant case curative instructions to the jury given immediately after a codefendant‘s guilty plea were held sufficient to avoid error prejudicial to the remaining defend-
In the present case the petitioner did not make any request that the jury be instructed to disregard Cain‘s guilty plea, and the court gave none, either at the time the plea was entered or in finally instructing the jury. A layman would hardly be aware of the fact that he was entitled to any protection from the prejudicial effect of a codefendant‘s plea of guilt. Even less could he be expected to know the proper course to follow in order to invoke such protection. The very uncertainty of the North Carolina law in this respect serves to underline the petitioner‘s need for counsel to advise him.
The post-conviction court made no finding specifically evaluating the prejudicial effect of Cain‘s plea of guilt and the trial judge‘s subsequent failure to give cautionary instructions to the jury. In any event, we cannot escape the responsibility of making our own examination of the record. Spano v. New York, 360 U.S. 315, 316. We hold that the circumstances which thus arose during the course of the petitioner‘s trial made this a case where the denial of counsel‘s assistance operated to deprive the defendant of the due process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The prejudicial position in which the peti-
Reversed.
MR. JUSTICE CLARK, whom MR. JUSTICE WHITTAKER joins, dissenting.
The opinion of the Court bids fair to “furnish opportunities hitherto uncontemplated for opening wide the prison doors of the land.” Foster v. Illinois, 332 U.S. 134, 139 (1947). Without so much as mentioning Betts v. Brady, 316 U.S. 455 (1942), it cuts serious inroads into that holding and releases petitioner, now a fourth offender though only 18 years old, from his 3-to-5-year sentence for larceny from the person. The Court does so on the ground of a single circumstance occurring at the trial, i. e., the fact that a codefendant, David Cain, was permitted at the close of the State‘s case to plead guilty to “larceny, in such amount that it is a misdemeanor.” The Court says that this circumstance “made this a case where the denial of counsel‘s assistance operated to deprive the defendant of the due process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.” Strangely enough, the Court digs up this ground sua sponte, for neither the petitioner, the State, nor any court of North Carolina thought such circumstance produced sufficient “unfairness” in the trial even to discuss it, though its existence was mentioned in the recital of facts in petitioner‘s brief. The truth is that the courts of North Carolina have held affirmatively that petitioner received a fair trial, and that no special circumstances were shown to indicate that lack of counsel resulted in prejudice to petitioner.
The Court, however, speculates that Cain‘s change in plea “raised problems requiring professional knowledge
The Court cites three North Carolina cases* in support of the “potential prejudice” which it finds petitioner may have suffered from Cain‘s change of plea. None of these cases were cited by the parties. As I have said, the point was not raised in the briefs. But even the North Caro-
While I do not wish to labor the issue, I must say that careful study of the case convinces me that it was a simple one and the trial was without complexity or technicality. The petitioner and three others induced their victim, an elderly man, to enter their car on the ruse that they would take him home for a dollar. It was in the nighttime and on the way to his home they drove into some woods. Petitioner ordered the victim out of the car, directed him to hold up his hands, and then went through his pockets, taking his billfold, containing some $24. The sole question for the jury was one of fact, namely, did petitioner take the old man‘s money? The State offered three witnesses in support of its position. The petitioner and his codefendant took the stand and gave their version of the affair, each admitting his presence on the scene but denying any robbery. There is not and never has been any claim that the State withheld any evidence or used perjured testimony or that incompetent evidence was admitted against the petitioner; or that he was denied
The record clearly shows, as the trial court found, that the petitioner “is intelligent, well informed, and was familiar with and experienced in Court procedure and criminal trials, having been previously tried on different occasions for careless and reckless driving, for breaking and entering, for driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, and for assault and robbery.” Only at the previous term of the same court, petitioner had defended himself on the assault and robbery charge and was found not guilty by the jury. But what more could emphasize the petitioner‘s ingenuity in defending himself than his defense here? It was simple and direct. Both he and his codefendant had this story: The victim, before entering the car, had been drinking beer and on the way home gave petitioner the money to buy a pint of vodka. After they all partook of the vodka the victim became ill and nauseated while sitting in the back of the car. The petitioner then got in the back seat, and when the car was stopped he helped the victim out and the latter fell down on the ground. Petitioner then got back in the car and his group drove away. After leaving the victim,
On the facts of this record, I can see no basis for saying that petitioner was denied due process, Betts v. Brady, supra, and accordingly would affirm the judgment.