United States v. Julius Carroll Robertson

698 F.2d 703, 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 30732
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 7, 1983
Docket81-2117
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 698 F.2d 703 (United States v. Julius Carroll Robertson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Julius Carroll Robertson, 698 F.2d 703, 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 30732 (5th Cir. 1983).

Opinions

WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

The questions this appeal raises are whether a stipulation admitting the essential facts of a criminal offense should be treated as equivalent to a guilty plea and whether the stipulation coupled with a reservation of nonjurisdictional defenses in a motion to dismiss should be treated as equivalent to a conditional plea of guilty, not tolerated in this circuit.1 We hold that in the absence of prosecutorial coercion or cajolery the stipulation was equivalent to in-court testimony in a trial, that the defendant, represented by counsel, never intended the stipulation to have the consequences of a guilty plea, and that in the circumstances of this case the defendant was not entitled to the protections of Fed.R. Crim.P. 11.

I.

Julius C. Robertson, the defendant, was indicted for escape from custody in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 751(a). On February 17, 1981, accompanied by his court-appointed attorney, Robertson entered a plea of guilty. After informing the defendant of his rights, the court accepted the plea, and set sentencing for March 2. On that date [705]*705Robertson appeared in court, and asked for leave to withdraw his plea. The district court allowed him to do so and to enter a plea of not guilty. The court set the case for trial before a jury on March 9 and at the request of the defendant appointed new counsel to represent the defendant in the trial of his case. On March 6, counsel for Robertson filed a motion to dismiss the indictment asserting the nonjurisdictional defenses that (1) he was deprived of a speedy trial, (2) the indictment was defective for failure of the grand jury foreman to sign it, and (3) he was not taken before a magistrate until 71 days after his arrest.

March 9, the date of trial, in open court Robertson and his counsel stated that they wished to waive a jury and try this case on stipulated facts. The trial judge asked: “Is that correct? In other words, you don’t want to put on any evidence other than what you give me in the way of stipulated facts?” Then he added: “I don’t see why you couldn’t do that because this is going down to a law question.” Notwithstanding the stipulation, defendant’s counsel called a witness to the stand and examined him.

The trial court ordered the waiver of a jury and stipulation filed, and denied the motion to dismiss. The stipulation, in full, reads as follows:

1) That the said JULIUS CARROLL ROBERTSON, named in the indictment herein is one and the same person as the JULIUS CARROLL ROBERTSON stipulating the facts contained herein.
2) That on or about the 13th day of November, 1980, JULIUS CARROLL ROBERTSON, having been lawfully committed to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States by virtue of a United States District Court was lawfully incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana, Texas.
3) That on or about the said date, the 13th day of November, 1980, JULIUS CARROLL ROBERTSON unlawfully and willfully escaped from such custody at the Federal Correctional Institution, in Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas.

March 23, 1981, the defendant appeared with his attorney and reiterated his plea of not guilty. The trial court entered a memorandum order finding Robertson guilty and imposed a sentence of six months to run consecutively with the sentence he was serving.

There was no doubt in the defendant’s mind as to the nature of his plea or as to whether he had a trial. When the district court asked if he had anything to say before the court imposed sentence, he answered: “Yes, sir, I do. I hope the Court isn’t angry because I didn’t plead guilty.”

Robertson changed attorneys and appealed. On appeal, his new court-appointed attorney did not brief or argue the issues which were the bases for the decision to change the plea of guilty and go to trial on a not guilty plea. Of course, had his counsel argued these issues, it would have been apparent that the stipulation could not be treated as the equivalent of a guilty plea. A guilty plea is “itself a conviction; nothing remains but to give judgment to determine punishment”. Boykin v. Alabama, 1969, 395 U.S. 238, 242, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1711-1712, 23 L.Ed.2d 274.

In oral argument before this Court counsel for Robertson said that he abandoned the defenses asserted in the motion for summary judgment because they were meritless. The United States Attorney said that he was surprised and “shocked” by the defendant/appellant’s brief. There is no doubt that the trial judge, the trial attorneys, and the defendant (for what his view is worth) all considered that the proceedings on March 9 were a trial on a plea of not guilty. The stipulation, as is evident from its brevity and the nature of the offense, was no great concession by the defendant. When a man is in prison and then unaccountably out of prison, no exceptional legal talent is required to prove an escape. And in this case there is no evidence to suggest that the defendant was taken advantage of by prosecutorial coercion and cajolery. This case does not bear the slightest resemblance to Johnson v. Zerbst, 1938, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461 or to any progeny of Johnson v. Zerbst.

[706]*706When the facts are as simple as they are here, and there is no reason to think that the prosecution has reached beyond the bounds of propriety in obtaining a stipulation, a stipulation should be encouraged in the interest of the parties and judicial economy. The stipulation here simply took the place of in-court testimony. In United States v. Escandar, 5 Cir.1972, 465 F.2d 438 this Court, in rejecting an argument that the testimony at trial was tantamount to a guilty plea, stated:

When a defendant affectively represented by competent counsel, takes the stand to testify, he does so invariably as his own proffer of evidence. The act is voluntary, it is not solicited by the other side. And that fact distinguishes in-court testimony from custodial investigations and guilty pleas. (Emphasis ours).

Although Escandar specifically dealt with in-court testimony, the same reasoning applies to a trial based on untainted stipulated facts.

II.

This Circuit’s policy regarding conditional guilty pleas is stated in United States v. Sepe, 5 Cir., 474 F.2d 784, 789, aff’d on rehearing, 1973, 486 F.2d 1045. In Sepe, we reasoned:

The defendants at bar had every right to and did in fact plead not guilty. After their motion to suppress was overruled they were confronted by one of the hard choices of which our criminal process is replete..... They could go to trial on charges of armed robbery and put the government to its burden of proving their guilt, ...

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Juan Salazar
751 F.3d 326 (Fifth Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Banks
624 F.3d 261 (Fifth Circuit, 2010)
Gould v. United States
657 F. Supp. 2d 321 (D. Massachusetts, 2009)
State v. McCullough, 12-07-09 (6-23-2008)
2008 Ohio 3055 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2008)
United States v. Hurst
272 F. App'x 409 (Fifth Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Ramos-Flores
233 F. App'x 347 (Fifth Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Shanklin
193 F. App'x 384 (Fifth Circuit, 2006)
State v. Miller
2006 SD 54 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2006)
United States v. Dennis Wellington
417 F.3d 284 (Second Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Ruiz
51 F. App'x 452 (Fourth Circuit, 2002)
United States v. Davis
50 M.J. 426 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 1999)
United States v. Muse
Fourth Circuit, 1996
United States v. Randall Dwayne Muse
83 F.3d 672 (Fourth Circuit, 1996)
Weiker v. Solem
515 N.W.2d 827 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1994)
People v. Adams
862 P.2d 831 (California Supreme Court, 1993)
United States v. Edward Avery Herndon
982 F.2d 1411 (Tenth Circuit, 1992)
Bonilla Romero v. United States
749 F. Supp. 31 (D. Puerto Rico, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
698 F.2d 703, 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 30732, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-julius-carroll-robertson-ca5-1983.