Lone v. United States

299 F. Supp. 855, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8596
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedApril 28, 1969
DocketCiv. No. 50295
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 299 F. Supp. 855 (Lone v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lone v. United States, 299 F. Supp. 855, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8596 (N.D. Cal. 1969).

Opinion

ORDER

OLIVER J. CARTER, District Judge.

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, petitioner Lone has filed a motion to set aside a sentence of twenty-five (25) years imprisonment imposed by this Court on January 13, 1964. On that date, petitioner entered a plea of guilty to a single count indictment charging him with violation of several provisions of the Federal Bank Robbery Act, namely, 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), (d), (e). The indictment charged that on or about November 1, 1963, Lone did wilfully by force and violence take from the United California Bank, San Francisco, money in the sum of approximately $6,719.00. It further charged that he knowingly and wilfully put in jeopardy the lives of several persons by use of a loaded hand gun and in committing the offense did force two persons to accompany him without their consent.

At the time Lone was indicted, 18 U.S.C. § 2113(e) provided:

“Whoever, in committing any offense defined in this section, or in avoiding or attempting to avoid apprehension for the commission of such offense, or in freeing himself or attempting to free himself from arrest or confinement for such offense, kills any person, or forces any person to accompany him without the consent of such person, shall be imprisoned not less than ten years, or punished by death if the verdict of the fury shall so direct.”

Since then, United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 88 S.Ct. 1209, 20 L.Ed.2d 138 (1968) and Pope v. United States, 392 U.S. 651, 88 S.Ct. 2145, 20 L.Ed.2d 1317 (1968) have been decided. These cases held the death penalty provisions of the Federal Kidnapping Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a), and of the Federal Bank Robbery Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2113(e), unconstitutional. Provisions limiting the death penalty to cases in which a jury recommends it serve “to discourage assertions of the Fifth Amendment right not to plead guilty and to deter exercise of the Sixth Amendment right to demand a jury trial.” United States v. Jackson, supra, at 581, 88 S.Ct. at 1216.

The question raised by Lone’s petition is what effect, if any, do Jackson and Pope have on the sentence imposed by this Court after accepting Lone’s plea of guilty to the indictment charging him with violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), (d), (e). Before answering this question, the Court should refer to the circumstances surrounding the entry and acceptance of the petitioner’s guilty plea.

On November 29, 1963, Lone appeared before this Court with appointed counsel to enter a plea. On January 10, 1964, the defendant again appeared before this Court and entered a plea of guilty. Sentence was imposed after the plea at the request of the defendant. The transcript of the hearing of November 29, 1963, is marked Exhibit “A”, appended hereto, and by this reference made a part hereof. Portions of the transcript of the hearing on January 10, 1964, are marked Exhibit “B”, appended hereto, and by this reference made a part hereof.

The retroactive effect of Jackson is yet unclear. See Sims v. Eyman, 405 F.2d 439 (9th Cir. 1969). Already, conflicting decisions exist among the circuits. In Bailey v. United States, (D.C.Cir. 9/13/68), the court announced that the principles of Jackson as applied to the District of Columbia rape statute would affect only those defendants whose trials began after Jackson was decided. In Buttcher v. Yeager, 288 F.Supp. 906 (D.C.N.J.1968), the court decided that Jackson was not retroactive for purposes of setting aside a non vult plea to a charge of violation of New Jersey’s murder statute. In Natale v. United States, 287 F.Supp. 96 (D.C.Ariz.1968), Jackson was held retroactive for purposes of deciding that the petitioner had not been charged with a capital offense which would have required that he be charged by indictment rather than by information. In McFarland v. United States, 284 F.Supp. 969 (D.C.Md.1968), the court de[857]*857cided that the effect of Jackson may be retroactive but that “the Jackson case should not be applied indiscriminately to strike out every judgment heretofore entered in a case where a defendant has entered a guilty plea; the totality of the circumstances in each case should be considered to determine whether there was any denial of due process in the light of the development of the law.” Id. at 977.

Retroactive application of recently-announced constitutional safeguards to the criminally accused is not a matter of course. E. g., Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601 (1964) (exclusionary rule of illegally-seized evidence under Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961), held inapplicable to convictions which had become final before Mapp was decided); Tehan v. Shott, 382 U.S. 406, 86 S.Ct. 459, 15 L.Ed.2d 453 (1966) (rule of Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965), declaring comment on refusal of the defendant to testify unconstitutional held inapplicable to cases in which judgment of conviction was rendered, availability of appeal exhausted, and the time for petition for certiorari elapsed or was denied before Griffin was decided); Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719, 86 S.Ct. 1772, 16 L.Ed.2d 882 (1966) (exclusionary rules of Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L. Ed.2d 977 (1964), and of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 10 A.L.R.3d 974 (1966), held applicable only to cases where the trials have commenced after the respective decisions were announced); Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967) (rules of United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 (1967), and of Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263, 87 S.Ct. 1951, 18 L.Ed.2d 1178 (1967), involving right to counsel at identification lineups, held applicable only to cases involving confrontations taking place after Stovall); De Stefano v. Woods, 392 U.S. 631, 88 S.Ct. 2093, 20 L.Ed.2d 1308 (1968) (Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 20 L.Ed.2d 491 (1968), right to jury trial in serious state criminal cases and Bloom v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 194, 88 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
299 F. Supp. 855, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lone-v-united-states-cand-1969.