J. Paul Shelton v. United States

242 F.2d 101
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedApril 3, 1957
Docket18-11398
StatusPublished
Cited by106 cases

This text of 242 F.2d 101 (J. Paul Shelton v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J. Paul Shelton v. United States, 242 F.2d 101 (5th Cir. 1957).

Opinions

RIVES, Circuit Judge.

The appellant moved the court under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 to vacate a one year prison sentence imposed for violation of the Dyer Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2311 et seq., covering interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle. The motion was based on the ground that, without the assistance of counsel, the movant had entered a plea of guilty which was not in fact voluntary but was induced by various promises.1 It alleged that the movant was not guilty of the offense charged, that he had gone through one trial on the charge before the same court which had resulted in a mistrial, and had consistently maintained his innocence.

An amendment to the motion alleged that the Government counsel had made additional promises,2 that the movant would not have pleaded guilty had it not been for the aforementioned promises and inducements, charged in detail the respects in which it was claimed that Government counsel had not fulfilled his promises, and set forth an additional ground for relief.3

[103]*103Upon the hearing on the motion, the movant testified at length in support of his averments. His testimony in part was that he had always maintained his innocence of the charge; he referred the court to the previous trial resulting in a mistrial, and testified,

“Your Honor wouldn’t recall personally at this late date all that happened but in as much as part of my motion here is based on the fact I really am innocent of the charge, I would like to state this on the question of my guilt or innocence. The Government’s charge was—
“Mr. Read: Your Honor, I would like to object to, and do object to any testimony along that line of his guilt or innocence. I believe from the law that is not an issue that can be brought in on the motion under 2255.
“The Court: No, Mr. Shelton, we can’t retry the case, you appealed this case, did you not, to the Fifth Circuit Court? A. No, sir.
“The Court: You didn’t? A. I will content myself with just saying that I wasn’t guilty then.
“The Court: All right.”

He further testified that the Assistant United States Attorney came to see him at the Federal Penitentiary while he was serving his previous sentence, and that they had the following conversation:

“I believe Mr. Breland was present part of the time, and Mr. Carter was present part of the time, the officials of the Penitentiary, and the conversation went something like this: ‘Now, hell, Shelton, you know we have got you on this, the first jury was going to convict you if we had not had a mistrial, so why don’t you plead guilty and get this thing over,’ and I reaffirmed my innocence of the charge, and I expressed a firm belief I would be acquitted, either by Your Honor without a jury, or with a jury. I believe I somewhat taunted him for having refused to go to trial before Your Honor without a jury. I asked him what he was afraid of, did he think he could flimflam a jury better than he could Your Honor. That was said in a jocular vein, of course and he said, ‘Well, a jury will convict you, and if they don’t convict you, you still will have to go down to Florida and be tried down there.’ Well, the thought that went through my head then, I had a terrible vision of spending months down in the Miami jail, and I had gotten fed up with these county jails, and the Penitentiary, relatively speaking, is a paradise compared to the county jail. Well, I could not recall every word that was spoken, but the substance of the conversation between Mr. Tysinger and myself was this: Mr. Tysinger stated if I could, would, come down here and plead guilty, he would guarantee a sentence of one year — he said not a year and a day, a year. And he further stated that he would get the Miami indictment disposed of, and it would not be necessary for me to go to Miami, and he pointed out to me, even though I would be acquitted here, and even though I would be acquitted in Miami, I still would have to spend several months in jail await-
[104]*104ing trial, fighting the case. So I asked, well I deliberated on his proposition, and eventually I told him after we discussed the matter there for perhaps half an hour or so, I told him, I said, very well, if you can guarantee a sentence of one year, and if you will guarantee the dismissal of the Miami charge, I will plead guilty. And he said he would come back down here, and he would get in touch with the various persons necessary, and if he was able to do what he thought he could do, he would have me brought down as soon as possible and I could enter a plea of guilty. And I told him, very well, but I at no time admitted to him I was guilty, but on the contrary, I at all times stated I was innocent of this charge, and if I went to trial I expected to be acquitted of this charge, but as a matter of expediency I would take him up on the proposition, to avoid going down to Miami, spending many, many months.”

The movant was cross-examined at length as to whether the promises which had been made to him by Government counsel had actually been fulfilled, and insisted that some of such promises had not been carried out.

He further testified that with good time allowance he was due to be released in a little more than three months, and, if his motion were granted and he were re-tried on the charge, he would be subject to a maximum penalty of five years if convicted, but that he wanted to take that chance.

The Government then introduced as a witness, on the hearing of the motion, the former Assistant United States Attorney who had handled the case against the movant. He testified that he went to see the movant in the penitentiary and that the following occurred:

“ * * * he stated he wanted to get all settled up, all straightened up with his law cases, and he wanted to dispose of them by withdrawing his petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States, one of them, and by dismissing the indictment, nol prossing the indictment, lifting the detainer in Miami, Southern District of Florida, I asked him what he proposed to do, and he said he would take, he would like to get a sentence of five years, including the four year sentence in New Orleans, or a year and a day in addition to it, and the main part of the conversation was about withdrawing his petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States, and the nol prossing of the Miami indictment, and lifting that detainer. Now, I told him I couldn’t do anything but recommend to the court about these, but if he, this is after he had the mistrial here in this court, and the — we had spent thousands of dollars of United States money, and I was trying to prosecute on that mistrial. In order to expedite justice and save the Government money, I told him I would recommend a year and a day, or five years, to end forever the litigating action on the part of the petitioner, and that was understood, and I come back and I did recommend to His Honor, whereupon I proceeded immediately to call the Attorney General of the United States, criminal division, called Mr. Gilmartin, U. S. Attorney in Miami, and I talked to the Assistant U. S.

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

Related

United States v. Jordan
132 F.4th 1229 (Tenth Circuit, 2025)
Riggs v. Filson
D. Nevada, 2025
People v. Aceituno
2022 IL App (1st) 172116 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2022)
Byrd v. State
243 Md. App. 616 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2019)
Juan Alberto Blanco Garcia v. State of Tennessee
425 S.W.3d 248 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 2013)
United States v. Krejcarek
453 F.3d 1290 (Tenth Circuit, 2006)
Skok v. State
760 A.2d 647 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2000)
United States v. Vincent Bruno
903 F.2d 393 (Fifth Circuit, 1990)
United States v. Henry
713 F. Supp. 1182 (N.D. Illinois, 1989)
United States v. Paul Long
852 F.2d 975 (Seventh Circuit, 1988)
United States v. Anthony Pinto
838 F.2d 1566 (Eleventh Circuit, 1988)
Mabry v. Johnson
467 U.S. 504 (Supreme Court, 1984)
United States Ex Rel. Hogan v. Bara
578 F. Supp. 1075 (E.D. New York, 1984)
In Re Ibarra
666 P.2d 980 (California Supreme Court, 1983)
Sims v. Wyrick
552 F. Supp. 748 (W.D. Missouri, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
242 F.2d 101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/j-paul-shelton-v-united-states-ca5-1957.