United States v. Erickson

300 F. Supp. 1236, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8497
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedJune 30, 1969
DocketNo. J-68-CR-4
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 300 F. Supp. 1236 (United States v. Erickson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Erickson, 300 F. Supp. 1236, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8497 (E.D. Ark. 1969).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM and ORDER

HENLEY, Chief Judge.

This criminal case is now before the Court on the motion of Dale E. Peterson, one of the defendants, for a modification of the sentence imposed herein on May 23, 1968. In passing upon the motion the Court has considered the entire record in the case, and the memorandum brief of counsel for defendant who, incidentally, is the same attorney who represented defendant and his fellows when they were before the Court last year. The Court considers that a rather full statement of the case is desirable.

In 1957 the defendant, who was then a juvenile, while absent without leave from the Air Force, stole a car and transported it in interstate commerce into the State of Wyoming where he was apprehended. On May 16, 1957, a juvenile delinquency charge was filed against him in federal court in that State, and he entered a plea of guilty. He was sentenced to three years and was confined in the United States Reformatory at Englewood, California, whence he was released in 1959.

Following his release he continued to steal cars. The first count of the indictment in this case charged that from May 1, 1967, to about May 28, 1967, Peterson and five other persons entered into a conspiracy to steal automobiles and transport them in interstate commerce into Arkansas for the purpose of sale. In addition to the conspiracy-count, the indictment contained eight additional counts charging substantive violations of the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2312.

[1238]*1238The defendant, Peterson, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count, and the substantive counts were dismissed. At the time of sentence other criminal charges were pending against him; the Court suspended execution of the sentence until May 28, 1968, and directed him to surrender himself on that date to the United States Marshal in Chicago, Illinois, which he presumably did. The Court does not know what disposition was made of the charges against defendant in that State.

In March 1969 the defendant filed a motion to vacate and set aside the old juvenile- delinquency conviction in Wyoming alleging that his plea of guilty had been in effect coerced. That motion came on for hearing on May 5, 1969, before District Judge Ewing T. Kerr. It does not appear from the copy of Judge Kerr’s order which is before the Court whether defendant was present.

Apparently, Judge Kerr undertook to dispose of the motion on the record available to him. He discovered that the Court Reporter had failed to transcribe his notes of the 1957 proceedings so that the Judge was not able to tell from the record whether the motion had any merit. He thereupon simply vacated the old judgment and sentence, which sentence defendant had served already.

The motion now before the Court is based on the fact that, as stated, Judge Kerr set aside the 1957 judgment in Wyoming. The position of defendant apparently is that when this Court sentenced him in 1968, the Court took the 1957 conviction into consideration, and that in the absence of that conviction defendant would not have received as long a sentence as he did. The prayer of the motion is that the sentence be “modified,” but defendant does not say what particular modification he desires.

The power of this Court to deal with defendant’s sentence at this time is governed by Rule 35 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The time allowed by that Rule for a reduction of sentence has long since expired. Hence, if defendant is to prevail on his motion, it must be on the theory that the sentence imposed on him by this Court was an illegal sentence. That theory cannot be sustained.

Unlike the Court Reporter in Wyoming, the Reporter of this Court prepared and filed a complete transcript of the proceedings on May 23, 1968, when defendant and his co-defendants were sentenced.

From a reading of that transcript it appears that the Court did not attach too much importance to the fact that defendant had been adjudged a juvenile delinquent in 1957, although the Court did give and should have given consideration to the past conduct of the defendant. The transcript reveals the following colloquy between the Court, the defendant, and counsel for the defendant:

“THE COURT: What about his prior criminal record? Does he have any convictions, felony convictions in recent years?
“MR. MURPHY: No, Your Honor; the only conviction on his record is the 1957 Dyer Act conviction in Wyoming; and he was eighteen or nineteen years old at the time and he was in the Army, sixteen years old at the time; and he was in the Army and went AWOL and took the car.
“THE COURT: How much time did you serve in Englewood. Mr. Peterson ?
“MR. PETERSON: Three years, Your Honor.
“THE COURT: When were you released? ’60?
“MR. PETERSON: 1959.
“THE COURT: ’59.
“MR. SHERMAN: There are cases pending in Chicago against him too, Your Honor.
“THE COURT: Lets see; he’s entered pleas of guilty there also in what, one case, or how many?
“MR. PETERSON: I think there’s five or six, I’m not sure.
“THE COURT: Mr. Peterson, do you have a drinking problem?
[1239]*1239“MR. PETERSON: Well, lately I have done quite a bit of drinking.
“THE COURT: You are not drinking today, are you ?
“MR. PETERSON: No, sir.
“THE COURT: Or under any form of medication?
“MR. PETERSON: No, sir.
“THE COURT: Is there any statement you wish to make to the Court, Sir?
“MR. PETERSON: No, sir.
“THE COURT: Mr. Murphy, do you wish to make any statement on behalf of the defendant?
“MR. MURPHY: I would like to emphasize, Your Honor, as of this date he has served no time since 1959. Cases are pending, for which he has readily acknowledged his guilt. He’s acknowledged his guilt in this case.
“I would like to emphasize also that his father died when he was twelve years old; and that his mother, according to the probation report, feels that he needed psychiatric treatment during his youth and early adulthood. He is married, with two children, ages four and three; separated from his wife, but until he was arrested on this charge he was contributing $40.00 a week to the support of those children.
“Further, the report, probation report will reveal that his wife has refused to let him see the children, and despite that fact he has contributed regularly $40.00 a week for their support since 1966.
“He has a ninth grade education; he falsified his age to get into the U. S. Air Force; he went in at age sixteen; went AWOL and during that AWOL time took a car, for which he was convicted under the Dyer Act. That’s the only conviction on his record, Sir.

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Bluebook (online)
300 F. Supp. 1236, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-erickson-ared-1969.