WILLIE FORD, JR., APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Willie Ford, Jr. appealed the summary denial of his post-conviction relief petition challenging his guilty plea to second-degree murder. The court affirmed the denial, holding that Ford failed to state sufficient grounds for relief because his guilty plea was voluntary and knowing, and he waived any right to challenge counsel's competence by retaining private counsel.
The court held that Ford's petition failed to state sufficient grounds for post-conviction relief. Because no confession was actually used against him and he entered a voluntary and knowing guilty plea in open court with counsel, the alleged extraction of confessions while under narcotics was insufficient grounds for relief. Furthermore, Ford waived any right to complain of his privately retained counsel's competence by choosing to retain his own attorney.
“he cannot properly be heard in this Court to complain that his plea of guilty in the trial Court was coerced, because he makes no such allegation in his motion”
Establishes that Ford's complaint about confessions allegedly obtained while under narcotics does not properly support a claim that his guilty plea was coerced, as he failed to allege coercion of the plea itself.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceFord was indicted for first-degree murder in January 1966. On March 4, 1966, represented by privately retained counsel, he pleaded guilty to second-de…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Petition For Post Conviction Relief cases and more on FLexlaw
This is an appeal by Willie Ford, Jr., defendant below, from an order summarily denying his petition under former Rule 1, F.S.A. ch. 924 Appendix, for post-conviction relief.
On January 11, 1966, indictment was returned into the Pinellas County Circuit Court charging the defendant Ford with murder in the first degree. Represented by privately retained counsel, defendant, on March 4, 1966, entered plea of guilty to murder in the second degree, which plea was agreeable to the State Attorney and was accepted by the Court. On March 31, 1966, the Court adjudged defendant guilty of the second degree murder charge and sentenced him accordingly.
On October 16, 1967, defendant moved to vacate said judgment and sentence under former Rule 1, to which petition the State Attorney filed answer denying all allegations therein set forth. On November 6, 1967, the Court summarily denied relief under the petition, from which order defendant is here appealing. The Public Defender of said Court has represented defendant on this appeal.
In the petition, defendant asserts that on January 1, 1966, he was admitted to a Clearwater hospital as an emergency patient and while there narcotics were administered to him “to ease his pain”, that police officers thereupon insisted on ques*34tioning him, and that while under the influence of narcotics certain confessions were extracted from him. He also alleged that a local attorney, who was privately retained by his family, did not competently represent him in that he did not hold sufficient consultations with defendant and who also advised him to plead guilty “since the state attorney was going to reduce the charge” to second degree murder. The trial Judge in denying the petition held that defendant “intelligently, understandingly and advisedly entered a voluntary plea of Guilty * * *, that no irregularities theretofore occurring were used against the Defendant at or after said guilty plea; and the Defendant was represented by competent counsel at every essential stage of the proceeding * * * ”.
Defendant’s contention that he was “induced into the confession”, even if true, was insufficient to entitle him to have the judgment of conviction vacated. The record is barren of any showing that any confession was ever used against the defendant; on the contrary, he appeared in open Court, attended by his privately retained attorney, and pleaded guilty to a lower degree of unlawful homicide which the State Attorney had agreed to. .Under such circumstances, the existence of such confession or confessions is not sufficient reason to relief under Rule 1. Coleman v. State, Fla.App.1965, 172 So.2d 854; Weeks v. State, Fla.App.1967, 201 So.2d 764. And, as stated in Hand v. State, Fla.App.1968, 208 So.2d 307, released March 20, 1968, “ * * * he cannot properly be heard in this Court to complain that his plea of guilty in the trial Court was coerced, because he makes no such allegation in his motion”, citing Adams v. State, Fla.App.1965, 179 So.2d 369; Whitaker v. State, Fla.App.1964, 160 So.2d 125; Lee v. State, Fla.App.1964, 165 So.2d 443.
And as to the asserted incompetence of his counsel, the rule is that, where an accused retains his own attorney, he thus waives his right to complain of his counsel’s competence. Simpson v. State, Fla.App.1964, 164 So.2d 224; Coyner v. State, Fla.App.1965, 177 So.2d 715; Williams v. State, Fla.App.1965, 167 So.2d 795.
From what we have said, it is apparent that the petition was devoid of substantial grounds on its face, and the trial Judge was thereupon in his rights in summarily disposing of the matter by denying the petition without necessity of a useless hearing. The order appealed is therefore affirmed.
Affirmed.
LILES, C. J., and HOBSON, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Clement Lemmon Edwards v. State, 393 So. 2d 597 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)…2d 256 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970); Brown v. State, 223 So. 2d 337 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 229 So. 2d 866 (Fla.1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 969, 90 S.Ct. 1009, 25 L.Ed.2d 262 (1970); Frizzell v. State, 213 So. 2d 293 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968); Ford v. State, 210 So. 2d 33 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968); Simpson v. State, 164 So. 2d 224, 226 (Fla. 3d DCA), appeal dismissed, 169 So. 2d 383 (Fla.1964). Until overruled by the Florida Supreme Court, I am not disposed to walk away from all these decisions as we do in this case. To the…
-
Vagner v. Louie L. Wainwright, 398 So. 2d 448 (Fla. 1981)…. 2d 337 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 229 So. 2d 866 (Fla. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 969, 90 S.Ct. 1009, 25 L.Ed.2d 262 (1970); Byrd v. State, 220 So. 2d 14 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969); Frizzell v. State, 213 So. 2d 293 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968); Ford v. State, 210 So. 2d 33 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968). The rule has also been applied when the issue of incompetence of retained counsel was raised on appeal of the judgment of conviction. Dickenson v. State, 261 So. 2d 561 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972). The Court in Cappetta did not discuss th…
-
State v. Garmise, 382 So. 2d 769 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)…d 697 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976); Suarez v. State, 338 So. 2d 546 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976); Belsky v. State, 231 So. 2d 256 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970); Brown v. State, 223 So. 2d 337 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969); Frizzell v. State, 213 So. 2d 293 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968); Ford v. State, 210 So. 2d 33 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968); Simpson v. State, 164 So. 2d 224, 226 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964). We are not at liberty to upset such an established line of cases in this state, and, in the absence of a contrary rule by the Florida Supreme Court, we are compelled to re…
Previewing 3 of 8 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Simpson v. State, 164 So. 2d 224 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964)
- Coyner v. State, 177 So. 2d 715 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965)
- Sandsbury LEE v. State, 165 So. 2d 443 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964)
- Major Realty Corp. v. Fla. State Tpk. Auth., 160 So. 2d 125 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964)
- Williams v. State, 167 So. 2d 795 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964)
- Coleman v. State, 172 So. 2d 854 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965)
- Adams v. State, 179 So. 2d 369 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965)
- Weeks v. State, 201 So. 2d 764 (Fla. 3d DCA 1967)
- Hand v. State, 208 So. 2d 307 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968)