United States Ex Rel. Gutterson v. Thompson

47 F. Supp. 150, 1942 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2239
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedOctober 23, 1942
Docket712
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 47 F. Supp. 150 (United States Ex Rel. Gutterson v. Thompson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States Ex Rel. Gutterson v. Thompson, 47 F. Supp. 150, 1942 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2239 (E.D.N.Y. 1942).

Opinion

ABRUZZO, District Judge.

This is an application for a writ of habeas corpus for the release of the relator.

The cause or pretense for the imprisonment of the relator is that said relator violated the conditions of his parole from the U. S. Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The material facts herein can be summarized as follows:

The relator was sentenced on June 29, 1938, to serve .a term of three years imprisonment, after his conviction of the crime of using the mails to defraud. He commenced service of that sentence on July 23, 1938, in the United States Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. On November 10, 1940, he was admitted to parole for *151 the remainder of the term of his sentence. Regularly thereafter he reported to his Parole Board in Brooklyn through June of 1942. The full term of his sentence expired on July 20, 1941.

Two days prior to the expiration of this sentence, and on July 18, 1941, the United States Parole Board issued a warrant for the relator’s retaking as a parole violator. This warrant remained unexecuted until June 15, 1942, when the relator was arrested and detained at the Federal House of Detention, 427 West Street, New York City.

The warrant in question was issued pursuant to Section 717 of the U.S.C.A., Title 18, which provides:

“§ 717. Same; violation of parole; warrant for retaking prisoner. If the warden of the prison or penitentiary from which said prisoner was paroled or said board of parole or any member thereof shall have reliable information that the prisoner has violated his parole, then said warden, at any time within the term or terms of the prisoner’s sentence, may issue his warrant to any officer hereinafter authorized to execute the same, for the retaking of such prisoner. (June 25, 1910, .c. 387, § 4, 36 Stat. 820).”

After his arrest and detention, this writ .of habeas corpus was issued.

The relator contends that under Section .717 of the Code, a warrant must be issued .-and executed within the term of the sentence imposed; and that since July 20, ;1941, was the expiration date of his sentence, the warrant herein could not be legally executed. It is conceded that the warrant was not executed within the said ;period of time.

This point has not been ruled upon di-rectly and authority for or against the issue rraised must be gleaned from decisions interpreting the statute.

Section 717 pertains to the method of retaking a parolee, while Section 719 states the provisions to be carried out when parole is revoked and terminated. It reads: “If such order of parole shall be revoked and the parole so terminated, the said prisoner shall serve the remainder of the sentence originally imposed; and the time the -prisoner was out on parole shall not be taken into account to diminish the time for which he was sentenced. As amended May 13, 1930, c. 255, § 1, 46 Stat. 272; June 29, 1940, c. 449, § 3, 54 Stat. 692.”

It is not the province of this Court to inquire into whether or not the terms or conditions of the parole were violated by this relator under Section 719.

The parole of a prisoner by the Board of Parole is not a suspension of the sentence but merely substitutes for confinement in the penitentiary confinement within the bounds specified by his parole outside of the penitentiary, still subject to the legal custody of the warden. But the prisoner is not free of his sentence while he is out of the prison under the parole. He is still serving his sentence. Anderson, Warden, v. Williams, 9 Cir., 279 F. 822.

The issue to be determined herein, therefore, is whether or not the warrant could be legally executed after the term of imprisonment had expired.

The relator relies to a great extent on the authority enunciated in Henratty v. Zerbst, D.C., 9 F.Supp. 230, 231. The petitioner in that case was sentenced to serve five years which he began on December 28, 1924, and on April 24, 1930, he was paroled, under the condition that he was to remain within the bounds of the state of Missouri until September 14, 1931. On September 24, 1931, he was notified that having complied with the conditions under which he was released he was discharged from parole. On August 10, 1933, a warrant issued for his apprehension and on April 12, 1934 he was arrested, returned to the penitentiary, his parole revoked and he was ordered to serve the remainder of his original sentence with no allowance for good time. Without statutory allowance for good time, his term expired December 20, 1934; with statutory allowance, it expired September 14, 1931, the date he was discharged from his parole. The Court concluded that when the petitioner observed all the conditions of his parole until September 14, 1931, he had fully served his lawful sentence. His time had been served. The sentence was at an end. Neither the Parole Board nor the Court can breathe life into a sentence which has been finally terminated.

In Clark v. Surprenant, 9 Cir., 94 F.2d 969, 972, a few minutes before the expiration of a completed term of sentence a warrant was issued by the Board of Parole which was not served until long after the full term of sentence had expired. The appellee in that matter was paroled on April 15, 1936, and his full term would have expired on July 14, 1936. On July *152 13, 1936, a warrant was issued for his arrest and return. The warrant was not executed until August 29, 1936, about a month and a half after the end of the term of sentence. The appellee was released on a writ of habeas corpus, which was appealed by the Marshal. The Court stated in that case:

“With regard to habeas corpus proceedings in federal courts, it is expressly provided by statute that the court, or justice, or judge, before whom the proceedings may be brought ‘shall proceed in a summary way to determine the facts of the case, by hearing testimony and arguments, and thereupon to dispose of the party as law and justice require.’ Revised Statutes § 761, 28 U.S.C.A. § 461; 12 R.C.L. § 68, p. 1250.”

Invoking that particular doctrine, the Court found therein that the conditions of the parole had not been violated, that his sentence had terminated and the District Court in granting the writ had disposed of the case as law and justice required.

In Bowers v. Dishong, 5 Cir., 103 F.2d 464, 466, the Court refused to follow the ruling just cited.

In the matter of Adams v. Hudspeth, 10 Cir., 121 F.2d 270, 272, a parolee appealed from an order denying a writ of habeas corpus. This appellant was sentenced on January 27, 1933, for a term of four years. On December 25, 1935, he was conditionally released, approximately one year before his term would have expired on January 26, 1937.

On February 24, 1936, a warrant was issued against him for parole violation and on July 6, 1936, before he was taken into custody, he was arrested, indicted and sentenced by another District Court for a term of six years, which he commenced to serve on July 16, 1936.

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Bluebook (online)
47 F. Supp. 150, 1942 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2239, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-ex-rel-gutterson-v-thompson-nyed-1942.