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Enoch ROBINSON, Petitioner, v. Charles L. WOLFF, Jr., Warden, Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex, Respondent

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit1972-10-19No. Nos. 72-1112, 72-1390
468 F.2d 438

Summary

Holding. The denial of habeas corpus relief in both petitions is affirmed. Robinson failed to exhaust state remedies as to most of his constitutional claims, and his second petition merely repeated grounds already decided, while sufficiency-of-evidence claims are governed by state law rather than federal constitutional standards.

Robinson, an inmate convicted of first-degree murder in Nebraska state court, filed two separate federal habeas corpus petitions challenging his conviction. In the first petition, he argued that Nebraska lacked jurisdiction to prosecute him because the crime allegedly occurred on the Omaha Indian Reservation involving an Indian victim, that the jury selection process in Thurston County systematically excluded Indians, and that various constitutional errors infected his trial. The federal district court dismissed most of his claims for failure to exhaust state remedies. Robinson argued that returning to state court would be futile, but the court found that his prior attempt at collateral review—a habeas petition in the custodial forum rather than through the state post-conviction statute—did not preclude him from filing a new post-conviction action in state court addressing different grounds. The court adopted the district judge's reasoning rejecting the jurisdictional claim and affirming that sufficient evidence supported the conviction.

In a second habeas petition filed after the initial dismissal, Robinson claimed insufficient evidence to support a conviction for any crime and that the trial court erred in denying his motion for acquittal. The district court dismissed this petition as merely restating the ground already decided in the first petition. The appellate court agreed, finding that the district judge's earlier determination of sufficient evidence for first-degree murder adequately covered the new sufficiency-of-evidence claim. The court further held that sufficiency of evidence is a question governed by state law, not the federal constitution, absent a complete absence of evidentiary proof.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether Nebraska courts had jurisdiction to prosecute a crime allegedly committed by an Indian against another Indian on the Omaha Indian Reservation
  • Whether systematic exclusion of Indians from jury panels in Thurston County violated the right to a fair trial
  • Whether a petitioner must exhaust state post-conviction remedies before seeking federal habeas relief
  • Whether sufficiency of evidence to support a criminal conviction presents a federal constitutional question

Procedural posture

Robinson appealed the federal district court's denial of two successive habeas corpus petitions challenging his state murder conviction.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

These appeals by the same petitioner arise from denials of writs of habeas corpus by the United States District Court in the District of Nebraska, the Honorable Warren K. Urbom presiding. 349 F.Supp. 514. In No. 72-1112 the petitioner raises a multitude of alleged errors attacking his first degree murder conviction in the state court. See State v. Robinson, 185 Neb. 64, 173 N.W.2d 443 (1970). The federal district court summarized these grounds as follows:

“1. The State of Nebraska had no jurisdiction to try the petitioner for the offense charged.

“2. The jury selection system of Thurston County, Nebraska, systematically excludes Indians from the jury panel, thereby depriving the petitioner of his right to be tried by a fair and impartial jury of his peers.

“3. There were constitutional errors in the trial.”

Petitioner did not collaterally attack his state conviction under the Nebraska Post Conviction Act, 29-3001 to 3004 R.R.S., but did petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Lancaster County District Court challenging the state’s jurisdiction to try him. This contention was premised on the claim that the State of Nebraska was without jurisdiction to try him for an offense committed by an Indian against another Indian within the territorial confines of the Omaha Indian Reservation. The Nebraska Supreme Court rejected this jurisdictional argument. Robinson v. Sigler, 187 Neb. 144, 187 N.W.2d 756 (1971).

The federal district court held that petitioner had failed to exhaust his state remedies as to his challenge on most of the constitutional errors occurring at his trial. These include his challenge that the Thurston County jury selection system excludes Indians from jury panels, that his trial counsel was ineffective and that the prosecution suppressed evidence favorable to the petitioner and used perjured testimony.

Robinson argues that the district court should assume jurisdiction because it would be a futile gesture for him to return to state court since he has already filed one “post-conviction” action in the state courts. He points to language in State v. Reichel, 187 Neb. 464, 191 N.W.2d 826 (1971), which indicates a petitioner will be barred from piecemeal litigation and may only file one post-conviction action. However, it is settled law that a petitioner may not be proeedurally estopped from filing successive post-conviction suits as long as he has not waived his right to raise the ground relied upon or as long as the ground raised has not been actually litigated and decided adversely to the petitioner. Cf. Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. 1, 83 S.Ct. 1068, 10 L.Ed.2d 148 (1963); Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963); Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 83 S.Ct. 822, 9 L.Ed.2d 837 (1963). As we declared in Harris v. Brewer, 434 F.2d 166, 168-169 (8 Cir. 1970), waiver of a constitutional right is a federal question and must meet federal standards. Fay v. Noia, supra at 439, 83 S.Ct. 822; Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938).

Nevertheless, Judge Urbom observed that petitioner would not be es-topped from refiling his claims in a state post-conviction proceeding since his only-attempt at collateral attack in the state court has been his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the forum of his custody rather than through the post-conviction statute in the forum of his sentence. We think this interpretation a sound one and avoids any unnecessary collision with the questionable dicta found in State v. Reichel, supra.

Judge Urbom has written an authoritative and soundly reasoned opinion rejecting the petitioner’s jurisdictional claim. We adopt his reasoning and affirm the denial to this claim. See Robinson v. Wolff, 349 F.Supp. 514 (D.C.Neb.1972). We likewise reaffirm his finding that the state record was not void of sufficient evidence to convict the petitioner of the first degree murder as charged.

No. 72-1390

Subsequent to the district court’s dismissal, petitioner filed another habeas corpus petition. In this petition Robinson alleges that he is claiming a broader basis of attack than he argued in his original petition. He now asserts that there was insufficient evidence proved to sustain a conviction for any crime and that the trial court erred in failing to sustain a motion for acquittal. Judge Urbom dismissed this petition as being premised on the same ground raised in the first petition. In disposing of the claim in his first opinion the district judge limited his discussion to whether there was sufficient poof of premeditation to sustain a conviction of first degree murder. The court’s finding that there was sufficient proof to sustain a conviction for first degree murder adequately covers the alleged new ground of the second complaint.

We do not understand Thompson v. The City of Louisville, 362 U.S. 199, 80 S.Ct. 624, 4 L.Ed.2d 654 (1960), relied upon by the petitioner, to justify federal review of a state court record to ascertain whether there exists sufficient evidence to make a prima facie case for a jury. The question of sufficiency of evidence depends upon state law and not the federal constitution. See Faust v. State of North Carolina, 307 F.2d 869 (4 Cir. 1962). The principle announced in the Thompson decision relates to a ease where the record is void of any evidentiary proof whatsoever to prove a criminal offense by defendant. Obviously, the standards as to sufficiency of evidence in one state may vary from the requirements in another. This factor does not create a question of constitutional dimension.

The denial of the writ of habeas corpus in both appeals is affirmed.

. This is not to say that every petitioner should not be encouraged by the court to raise all known grounds in one petition. Cf. Peterson v. United States, 467 F.2d 892, n. 2 (8 Cir. 1972).