Love v. United States

392 F. Supp. 1113, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13517
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. North Carolina
DecidedMarch 5, 1975
Docket74-242-Civ-5
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 392 F. Supp. 1113 (Love v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Love v. United States, 392 F. Supp. 1113, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13517 (E.D.N.C. 1975).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION and ORDER

LARKINS, District Judge:

This is a Motion to Vacate Sentence pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 2255. The prisoner petitioner, Murray Eugene Love, presently incarcerated in the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Georgia, claims that he is being detained in violation of his rights under the Constitution of the United States. The petitioner asks that this Court set aside his 1972 guilty plea on the grounds that the plea was invalid *1114 under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

On May 1, 1972 Love pleaded guilty to the federal charge of uttering and publishing as true a forged United States Postal Money Order in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 500 and was sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of five years. At that time he was in the custody of the State of South Carolina, awaiting trial on state charges. He was brought into the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on a Writ of Habeas Corpus ad prosequendum. After the federal sentence was imposed, the United States Marshal returned Love to the South Carolina authorities, Love was convicted of the state offenses and he was retained in state custody until August 2, 1972, when he was paroled into federal custody. Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3568, which in pertinent part provides that “[t]he sentence of imprisonment of any person convicted of an offense shall commence to run from the date on'which such person is received at the penitentiary, reformatory, or jail for service of such sentence”, Love’s five-year sentence did not begin to run until he was first received in federal custody, ninety-two days after he was sentenced by this Court.

Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires that a guilty plea “[must be] made voluntarily with understanding of the nature of the charge and the consequences of the plea.” The impact of 18 U.S.C. § 3568 was undeniably a consequence of Love’s plea. The issue is whether or not the operation of section 3568 is one of the “consequences of the plea” about which Rule 11 required Love to be advised. No authority in the Fourth Circuit has been found specifically addressing this problem; therefore, this Court’s attention must be directed to the handling of this question by other circuits.

“The law is clear that a valid plea of guilty requires that the defendant be made aware of all ‘the direct consequences of his plea.’ Wade v. Coiner (4th Cir. 1972) 468 F.2d 1059, 1060.” Cuthrell v. Director, Patuxent Institution, 475 F.2d 1364, 1365 (4th Cir. 1973), cert. den., 414 U.S. 1005, 94 S.Ct. 362, 38 L.Ed.2d 241. On the other hand, the law is equally clear that a valid plea of guilty does not require that the defendant be made aware of all “possible ancillary or consequential results which are peculiar to the individual and which may flow from a conviction on a plea of guilty, . . . .” United States v. Sambro, 147 U.S.App.D.C. 75, 454 F.2d 918, 920 (1971); United States v. Ready, 460 F.2d 1238, 1239 (4th Cir. 1972); Cuthrell v. Director, Patuxent Institution, supra, at 1365-1366; Johnson v. United States, 460 F.2d 1203, 1204 (9th Cir. 1972); Tindall v. United States, 469 F.2d 92 (5th Cir. 1972).

It is accepted in the Fourth Circuit that any factor affecting the maximum term of imprisonment is a direct consequence of the plea of guilty of which the defendant must be made aware. See Pilkington v. United States, 315 F.2d 204 (4th Cir. 1963).

This Court is of the opinion that the impact of section 3568 is a factor that necessarily affected Love’s maximum term of imprisonment. The maximum time a defendant may be in prison definitely depends upon the time that a sentence can commence running. See Eagle Thunder v. United States, 477 F.2d 1326 (8th Cir. 1973), cert. den., 414 U.S. 873, 94 S.Ct. 142, 38 L.Ed.2d 92; Stephen v. United States, 426 F.2d 257, 258 (5th Cir. 1970); Durant v. United States, 410 F.2d 689 (1st Cir. 1969); United States v. Myers, 451 F.2d 402 (9th Cir. 1972).

This Court was powerless under section 3568 to impose a federal sentence to run concurrently with any state confinement. The most this district judge could have done was to have recommended to the prison authorities that the sentence imposed be made concurrent with or consecutive to state, confinement. Title 18, United States Code, *1115 Section 4082(a) and (b) provides that the Attorney General of the United States is charged with designating “the place of confinement where the sentence shall be served.” That authority has been delegated under 28 C.F.R. § 0.96 to the Bureau of Prisons; therefore, this judge could make no more than a recommendation, as the designation may or may not be a state institution where the prisoner is already confined.

Love had no reason to think that his federal sentence would not commence on the day the sentence was imposed by this Court. It is evident from the transcript of the plea that this Court intimated as much at the time of Love’s sentencing. * In United States v. Myers, 451 F.2d 402 (9th Cir.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
392 F. Supp. 1113, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/love-v-united-states-nced-1975.