Charles Howard v. United States

237 F.2d 216, 99 U.S. App. D.C. 62, 1956 U.S. App. LEXIS 2882

• Court: Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
• Decided: September 20, 1956
• Docket: 13151_1
• Status: Published

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Indicted for murder in the first degree, Charles Howard was found guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to imprisonment for from five to fifteen years and did not appeal. A year later, Howard moved to vacate sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, and appeals from the District Court’s denial of his motion.

The trial judge-held the proof failed to how first degree murder and instruct ed only on murder in the second degree and manslaughter. Howard says that in doing so the court amended the indictment; that if not found guilty of first degree murder, he should have been acquitted. Thus he seems to argue the court erred in not directing a verdict of acquittal instead of instructing on lesser included offenses.

The point is not well taken, even if it could be raised under § 2255.

Affirmed.