Irving Gilinsky, Also Known as Samuel Benjamin Feldman v. United States

335 F.2d 914, 1964 U.S. App. LEXIS 4473
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 18, 1964
Docket19193
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 335 F.2d 914 (Irving Gilinsky, Also Known as Samuel Benjamin Feldman v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Irving Gilinsky, Also Known as Samuel Benjamin Feldman v. United States, 335 F.2d 914, 1964 U.S. App. LEXIS 4473 (9th Cir. 1964).

Opinion

KOELSCH, Circuit Judge.

The question before us is whether Appellant Gilinsky was wrongfully convicted on separate counts of an indictment which, it is claimed, define at most a single offense. Until a factual issue upon which the answer depends is actually resolved by the court below, however, the question is not ripe for review. Accordingly, we vacate the order of the district court and remand for a factual determination.

Briefly stated, the facts are these. Appellant was convicted on his guilty plea to a four-count indictment charging him with unlawfully causing four forged checks to be transported in interstate commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 2314. He was sentenced to the custody of the Attorney General for a period of ten years on each of the four counts. Sentences on Counts I, II and III were to run consecutively, and the sentence on Count IV was to run concurrently with that on Count I. Alleging that the four counts in the indictment merge and charge a single offense, appellant filed a motion to vacate illegal sentence pursuant to Rule 35 F.R.Crim.P. 1 The essence of appellant’s position is that the gravamen of the offense on which he stands convicted is the interstate transportation of the forged securities; that if all four checks described in the indictment were sent through the mail in a single package, only one offense was committed; that therefore the sentencing court would be without jurisdiction to convict on separate counts. Compare Strickland v. United States, 214 F.Supp. 640 (E.D.Mo.1963).

Without holding an evidentiary hearing, the district court concluded that none was necessary because the record demonstrated the propriety of conviction on each of the counts. Accordingly, it did not formally determine whether in fact the checks had been transported in a single package. 2 Rather, the court simply assumed that they had, but nevertheless rejected Gilinsky’s contention that transportation in a single package precluded separate courts for each check.

We observe at the outset that some support for the result reached by the district court is found in Bayless v. United *916 States, 288 F.2d 794 (9th Cir. 1961), cert. den. 366 U.S. 971, 81 S.Ct.1936, 6 L.Ed.2d 1260. There, a defendant claimed an indictment charging him in separate counts with:. (1) bank robbery; (2) putting the life of a bank teller in jeopardy; and (3) transporting stolen securities in interstate commerce, constituted a single offense for which only one conviction could be had. The district court had imposed concurrent sentences on the counts of bank robbery and endangering the life of a bank teller. In addition, it imposed a consecutive sentence on the count of interstate transportation and only that sentence was attacked. On appeal, this court rejected the defendant’s contention that Counts I and II merged with Count III. We discussed Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81, 75 S.Ct. 620, 99 L.Ed. 905 (1955) and Prince v. United States, 352 U.S. 322, 77 S.Ct. 403, 1 L.Ed.2d 370 (1957), both strongly relied upon by appellant here, and determined that those cases dealt with distinguishable statutes and circumstances and would not apply to relieve the defendant. The court was, of course, aware that it is well settled that separate counts of bank robbery and endangering the lives of bank tellers define a single offense. Dimenza v. Johnston, 130 F.2d 465 (9th Cir. 1942); Lockhart v. United States, 136 F.2d 122 (6th Cir. 1943). But we were not required to so determine because the sentences on those counts were concurrent. Stevenson v. Johnston, 72 F.Supp. 627, 630 (D.C.N.D.Calif. 1947), aff’d 163 F.2d 750, cert. den. 333 U.S. 832, 68 S.Ct. 459, 92 L.Ed. 1117; Gebbart v. United States, 163 F.2d 962 (8th Cir. 1947) ; United States v. Martin, 292 F.2d 702 (4th Cir. 191); United States v. Smith, 253 F.2d 95 (7th Cir. 1958) cert. den. 357 U.S. 919, 78 S.Ct. 1360, 2 L.Ed.2d 1364. As for the remaining count of interstate transportation, on which a consecutive sentence had been imposed, we determined that it stated an offense separate from the offense of bank robbery. And see Callanan v. United States, 364 U.S. 587, 596, 81 S.Ct. 321, 5 L.Ed.2d 312 (1961). In reaching that decision, however, we were confronted with statutes and circumstances very different from those here. It may, or may not be, true that our reasoning in Bayless is equally applicable here. But we may not so determine on this record; in the absence of a factual determination on whether the checks were transported in a single package, the question is only presented in the abstract.

Even if the Bayless case is distinguishable, it is nonetheless clear the district court was correct in holding no relief to appellant is available under Rule 35. Authority settles that relief from consecutive sentences imposed on separate counts, which in reality constitute but a single offense, may be sought under Rule 35 F.R.Crim.P. Holiday v. Johnston, 313 U.S. 342, 61 S.Ct. 1015, 85 L.Ed. 1392 (1940); Redfield v. United States, 315 F.2d 76, 81 (9th Cir. 1963) ; Strickland v. United States, 214 F.Supp. 640 (E.D.Mo.1963), aff’d 325 F.2d 970 (8th Cir. 1964). But a major stumbling block to appellant’s position is then encountered; decisions by this court and others have repeatedly held that a Rule 35 motion presupposes a valid conviction. Cook v. United States, 171 F.2d 567, 570 (1st Cir. 1948), cert. den. 336 U.S. 926, 69 S.Ct. 647, 93 L.Ed. 1088; Migdol v. United States, 298 F.2d 513, 514 (9th Cir. 1961); Redfield v. United States, supra, 315 F.2d at 81. Accordingly, collateral attack on errors allegedly committed at trial is not permissible under Rule 35. Hill v. United States, 368 U.S. 424, 82 S.Ct. 468, 7 L.Ed.2d 417 (1962) ; Redfield v. United States, supra, 315 F.2d at 81; Callanan v. United States, 274 F.2d 601 (8th Cir. 1960) aff’d 364 U.S. 587, 81 S.Ct. 321, 5 L.Ed.2d 312. 3 Therefore, in the ordinary Rule 35 case, the defendant is not entitled to a hearing, [United *917 States v. Martin, 192 F.Supp. 432 (D.C. N.C.1961), aff’d 292 F.2d 702, cert. den. 368 U.S. 957, 82 S.Ct. 400, 7 L.Ed.2d 389; Wallace v. United States, 174 F.2d 112 (8th Cir. 1949) cert. den. 337 U.S. 947] and the matter must be determined on the record. McIntosh v. Pescor, 175 F.2d 95, 97 (6th Cir. 1949) ; Cuckovich v. United States, 170 F.2d 89 (6th Cir. 1948); Orrie v. United States, 302 F.2d 695, 698 (8th Cir. 1962); and see Heflin v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Peña-Gonzalez
62 F. Supp. 2d 366 (D. Puerto Rico, 1999)
United States v. John F. Rosch
70 F.3d 1275 (Seventh Circuit, 1995)
United States v. Michael J. Corbitt
13 F.3d 207 (Seventh Circuit, 1993)
United States v. Moskovits
815 F. Supp. 147 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1993)
United States v. Makres
741 F. Supp. 727 (N.D. Illinois, 1990)
United States v. Horace Henry Mathews
833 F.2d 161 (Ninth Circuit, 1987)
United States v. William Willis
804 F.2d 961 (Sixth Circuit, 1986)
Allen v. United States
495 A.2d 1145 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1985)
Tremarco v. United States
412 F. Supp. 550 (D. New Jersey, 1976)
Rosa v. Tribunal Superior
102 P.R. Dec. 670 (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 1974)
United States v. Tonarelli
55 F.R.D. 423 (D. Puerto Rico, 1972)
United States v. Donald Edward Donohoe
458 F.2d 237 (Tenth Circuit, 1972)
United States v. Cliff Krueger
454 F.2d 1154 (Ninth Circuit, 1972)
Ketchum v. United States
327 F. Supp. 768 (D. Maryland, 1970)
Martha G. Whitfield v. United States
401 F.2d 480 (Ninth Circuit, 1969)
Copeland v. United States
290 F. Supp. 1006 (N.D. Mississippi, 1968)
Warden, Nevada State Prison v. Peters
429 P.2d 549 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1967)
Donald Lee King v. United States
372 F.2d 946 (Tenth Circuit, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
335 F.2d 914, 1964 U.S. App. LEXIS 4473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/irving-gilinsky-also-known-as-samuel-benjamin-feldman-v-united-states-ca9-1964.