[DOWNLOAD] "Martinez v. Estelle" by Fifth Circuit United States Court Of Appeals # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Martinez v. Estelle
- Author : Fifth Circuit United States Court Of Appeals
- Release Date : January 20, 1980
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 58 KB
Description
Johnny R. Martinez was convicted of possession of heroin in a Texas state court. His sentence was set, as Texas law required, at life imprisonment because of his two prior felony convictions. Tex. Penal Code Ann. art. 63 (1962) (repealed and recodified as Tex. Penal Code Ann. Γ§ 12.42(d)). Martinez asserted in his habeas corpus petition to the federal district court1 that one of the prior felony convictions is void because a confession was admitted as evidence without a reliable determination of its voluntariness as required by the Supreme Court in Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S. Ct. 1774, 12 L. Ed. 2d 908 (1964). He urges on appeal, as he did below, that the Texas statute requiring life imprisonment upon the third felony conviction was therefore erroneously applied. Tex. Penal Code Ann. art. 63 (1962). The district court held that although the Jackson v. Denno requirements for determination of voluntariness were not met, petitioner had failed to allege facts which would ""show that his version of the events, if true, would require the conclusion that his confession was involuntary."" Procunier v. Atchley, 400 U.S. 446, 551, 91 S. Ct. 485, 488, 27 L. Ed. 2d 524 (1971). The petition was denied. We reverse because petitioner's version of the events relating to the confession, if true, demonstrates that the confession was not voluntarily made. The Procedural History In 1962 Martinez was convicted by a Texas jury of robbery by assault; Judge Mace B. Thurman, Jr. presided over the trial. Four years later he was convicted of passing a forged instrument, with Judge Thurman again the presiding judge. His possession of heroin conviction followed in 1969. He filed a motion seeking a new trial because the presiding judge (Judge Blackwell) had participated as a member of the prosecution in one of his previous felony convictions. The motion was granted. After reindictment on the same charges Martinez again found himself in Judge Thurman's court. A jury found him guilty of possession of heroin. Because of the two prior felony convictions, Judge Thurman sentenced Martinez to life imprisonment as mandated by the Texas statute.