Lucas v. United States

114 F. Supp. 584, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4025
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. West Virginia
DecidedJuly 13, 1953
DocketNo. A-5302-W
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 114 F. Supp. 584 (Lucas v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lucas v. United States, 114 F. Supp. 584, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4025 (N.D.W. Va. 1953).

Opinion

WATKINS, District Judge.

Petitioner is now serving a sentence of two years imposed by this court after trial and conviction by a jury on Indictment No. 5305 charging conspiracy to violate the Federal Escape Act. He is serving the sentence at Atlanta, and is eligible for release October 11, 1954. This is the last of three consecutive sentences imposed upon him by this court on July 23, 1943. The other two sentences of five years under Indictment No. 5297 and three years under Indictment No. 5302 have been, served.

This is a motion or petition under Section 2255 to vacate the second sentence under Indictment No. 5302 which sentence has been served. The present motion alleges that he was not properly represented by counsel as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, and that petitioner pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and not to a felony. The government contends that these same questions have been raised in prior motions under Section 2255 and 'have been decided by this court, and points out that Section 2255 provides that the “sentencing court shall not be required to entertain a second or successive motion for similar relief on behalf of the same prisoner.” The government contends that petitioner should not be permitted to try his contentions in piecemeal by filing petition after petition under Section 2255; that this court has been most indulgent in entertaining his various petitions, but that the time has come to invoke the statute against successive petitions.

In an opinion filed by Judge William E. Baker of this court on January 13, 1949, 114 F.Supp. 583 on a motion made by petitioner to correct sentence under Indictment No. 5302, the facts were stated by Judge Baker, the sentencing judge, as follows :

“Sometime in March of 1943, Cecil S. Lucas, being then a soldier in the United States Army, went A. W. O. L. On May 18, 1943, he stole an automobile at Red House, Maryland, and accompanied by his sister transported the car to Harmon, West Virginia, where it was abandoned. Lucas and his sister made their way from Harmon to Elkins, West Virginia, and stayed for a time at a tourist home in that city. He cashed some checks with the owner of the tourist home, w-hich proved to be forgeries, and on June 1, 1943, Lucas was arrested by the City Police of Elkins for forgery and was lodged in the Randolph County Jail to await action of the Randolph County Grand Jury.
“On June 14, 1943, a jail break occurred. Several prisoners, who were in Federal custody, escaped jail at that time. Lucas was one of the leaders in this jail break; in fact, Lucas made the escape possible by committing a serious and aggravated assault upon the jailer with a home-made, but very effective, blackjack.
“On July 8, 1943, three indictments were returned in this court against Lucas by the Federal Grand Jury at Elkins. The first, No. A-5297, was for a violation of the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act. The second No. A-5302; D.C., 114 F.Supp. 581, was for a violation of the Federal Escape Statute. The third, No. A-5305, was for conspiracy to violate the Federal Escape Statute. All three indictments were later transferred to Wheeling for disposition. A jury trial was had in case No. 'A-5305; that is, the indictment charging conspiracy. This resulted in a verdict of guilty as to Lucas and all the other defendants. Following the return of this verdict, Lucas entered pleas of guilty in cases Nos. A-5297 and A-5302.
“On July 23, 1943, Lucas was sentenced in case No. A-5297 to imprisonment for five years; in case No. [586]*586A-5302 to imprisonment for five years, beginning at the expiration of the sentence in A-5297; and in case No. A-5305 to two years, beginning at the expiration of the sentence in A-5302.”

The second sentence of five years upon Indictment No. 5302 was reduced from five to three years on January 13, 1949, making a total sentence of ten years. He was released by conditional release November 19, 1949 and was taken into custody April 24, 1952 as 'a conditional release violator. The conditional release term amounts to 1,341 days, and with credit for 440 days of good time he is eligible for release October 11, 1954.

The court records will show eleven prior petitions to vacate the same sentence which he here attacks as follows: *

1. Petitioner first made motion to vacate this sentence on September 19, 1945, charging that sentence of five years was invalid on the face of the record. After hearing, that motion was denied by Judge Baker on October 18, 1945.

2. On June 17, 1946, he filed an amended motion to vacate sentence charging that the indictment and sentence thereon are void on the ground that the indictment does not charge any offense under the laws of the United States. That motion was denied by Judge Baker on August 14, 1946. An appeal was taken to the Circuit ’Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which affirmed the District Court. Lucas v. United States, 4 Cir., 158 F.2d 865, certiorari denied 330 U.S. 841, 67 S.Ct. 977, 91 L.Ed. 1287, rehearing denied 331 U.S. 863, 67 S.Ct. 1186, 91 L.Ed. 1869. In that proceeding Lucas complained that Indictment No. 5302 did not charge that the prisoners whose escape he assisted were held in custody charged with a felony or misdemeanor or upon conviction of an offense. The Circuit Court of Appeals, while upholding the action of the district court, stated [158 F.2d 867] : “If the question of the sufficiency of the indictment had been raised upon the trial by demurrer, motion to quash or motion for bill of particular and had been presented by appeal from tne judgment, a new trial would doubtless have been granted for error in the proceedings.” Some of the reasons for affirming the action of the lower court were stated to be, among other equally persuasive ones, that the petitioner had been represented by counsel in the lower court, had pleaded guilty to the indictment and that the indictment was not so defective that by reasonable construction it could' not be said to charge the offense for which the defendant was convicted. The charge in the present petition that his counsel was incompetent, evidently arises from the statement quoted above. If his attorneys informed him of their beliefs, he acquiesced in their judgment. If an error was committed by movant’s counsel, it was an error of judgment and not now subject to attack under Section 2255.

3. Motion to vacate judgment and sentence and petition for writ of error coram nobis ad testificandum, filed June 6, 1947, charging:

“(1) That the plea of guilty heretofore entered by the Petitioner to the aforesaid indictment was involuntarily made through deceit and misrepresentations on the part of counsel for the petitioner, and through mistake, inadvertence and excusable neglect on the part of petitioner; and,
“(2) That the petitioner is an uneducated layman and appointed counsel did not properly advise petitioner as to the procedure employed in such cases as would cure the defect in the indictment at the case at bar; and,

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Bluebook (online)
114 F. Supp. 584, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4025, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lucas-v-united-states-wvnd-1953.