United States ex rel. Warner v. Anderson
United States ex rel. Warner v. Anderson
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
The petitioner, Warner, was arrested and tried in 1965 and convicted of murder in the second degree, and burglary in the fourth degree. After arrest, both Warner and his co-defendant, Jenkins, made statements to the police. At their joint trials, neither defendant testified, but their statements were introduced into evidence with cautionary instructions to the jury that the confession of one defendant was not to be considered as evidence against the other defendant. Warner appealed jointly with his co-defendant, Jenkins, to the Supreme Court of Delaware in 1967.
The petitioner now brings a habeas corpus petition claiming that the introduction of the confession of his codefendant, Jenkins, into their joint trial when Jenkins did not testify deprived him of his VI Amendment right “to [be] confront [ed] [with] the witnesses against him” as announced by the Supreme Court in Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968). On this ground, he requests that his burglary conviction also be reversed.
In Bruton, the germinal case in this area, the Supreme Court held that where the statement of a co-defendant was introduced into evidence in a joint trial and the co-defendant did not take the stand to testify and be cross examined, the other defendant is deprived of his VI Amendment right of confrontation, and the conviction which results from the trial must be reversed. Moreover, this case has been held to be retroactive in effect,
The same issue was faced by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Johnson v. Yeager
The State has argued that the introduction of the confession of Jenkins into the joint trial constituted harmless error because Jenkins’ statement was identical to Warner’s concerning every aspect of the burglary.
The other grounds raised by the petitioner have been found to be without merit. Accordingly, the petition for habeas corpus will be denied.
Submit order.
. Jenkins v. State, 230 A.2d 262 (1967).
. Subsequently, Warner pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of a murder.
. People v. Aranda, 63 Cal.2d 518, 47 Cal.Rptr. 353, 407 P.2d 265 (1965).
. Roberts v. Russell, 392 U.S. 293, 88 S.Ct. 1921, 20 L.Ed.2d 1100 (1968).
. Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965).
. United States ex rel. Johnson v. Yeager, 399 F.2d 508 (1968), cert. denied 393 U.S. 1027, 89 S.Ct. 620, 21 L.Ed.2d 570 (1969).
. Chapman v. State of California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967).
. This review, I feel, is in accord with the recent case of Harrington v. State of California, 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 (1969), where the Supreme Court examined the non-tainted evidence in the case to determine whether the admission of the confessions of the co-defendants was harmless error.
. This argument in some form or other has been accepted in several States in cases where I find that the confessions admitted were identical with respect to every element of the crime charged. People v. Rosochacki, 41 Ill.26 483, 244 N.E.2d 136 (1969) ; State v. Hopper, 253 La. 439, 218 So.2d 551 (1969) ; People v. Devine, 57 Misc.2d 862, 293 N.Y.S.2d 691 (1968).
. Title 11 of the Delaware Code, Section 395 provides:
“Whoever,
(1) With intent to commit a crime therein, whether such intent be executed or not, breaks and enters a building, or a room, or any part of the building; or,
*336 (2) Being in any building, commits a crime therein and breaks out of the same,
is guilty of burglary in the fourth degree and a felony, and shall be imprisoned not more than 5 years.”
. Title 11 of the Delaware Code, Section 102 provides in part:
“(c) Whoever aids, abets, procures, commands or counsels any other to commit a crime or offense against the State is an accomplice and is guilty of the same crime or offense as the principal.”
Moreover, the Delaware Supreme Court has held that a defendant could be convicted as an accomplice even if indicted as a principal. Johnson v. State, 215 A.2d 247 (1965) ; Crawford v. State, 245 A.2d 791 (1968).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Clifford A. WARNER v. Warden Raymond W. ANDERSON
- Status
- Published