WINTER, Circuit Judge:
Martha L. Woods was found guilty by a jury of murder in the first degree1 and seven other charges of assault with intent to murder, attempt to murder, and mistreatment2 of her eight-month-old pre-adoptive foster son, Paul David [129]*129Woods. She had also been indicted and went to trial on three counts of assault, attempt to murder, and mistreatment of Judy Woods, her two-year-old adopted daughter, but the district court granted a judgment of acquittal on these charges. Mrs. Woods was sentenced to life imprisonment on the conviction of first degree murder, and she received various sentences on the other convictions, some to run concurrently with one another, and others to run consecutively.3
In this appeal, Mrs. Woods contends first that the government failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the corpus de-licti of murder, both because the evidence concerning the death of Paul Woods failed to supply that proof and because evidence about her nine other children was not admissible for that purpose;4 second, that even if such evidence of prior acts was admissible to prove corpus delicti, the evidence in this case was inadmissible because it was too insubstantial to prove that defendant caused the prior incidents; and third, that even if it was otherwise admissible, the jury was improperly instructed by the district court with regard to the consideration it might give to such evidence. A final contention is that on the conviction of first degree murder Mrs. Woods could have been sentenced under 18 U.S.C. § 4208(a) — a sentence the district court indicated that it was disposed to consider but was powerless to adopt —instead of receiving a “straight” sentence for life. We find no merit in any of these contentions, and we affirm.
I.
The issues before us arise from the manner in which the government, by necessity, undertook to prove its case. The government showed that Paul was born February 9, 1969, and that he spent the first five months of his life in a foster home. During that time his physical health was uneventful and he never suffered from any breathing problems or cyanosis (a blue color, principally around the lips, due to a lack of oxygen). At the time he was placed in Mrs. Woods’ home, he was a normal, healthy baby.
Beginning August 4, 1969, a bizarre series of events occurred. Twice on that date, and once again on August 8, August 13, and August 20, Paul suffered instances of gasping for breath and turning blue from lack of oxygen. Each time he responded to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, except on August 20, when he went into a coma which persisted until September 21, when he died at an age of slightly more than seven months. On each of these occasions the evidence indicated that Paul had been in Mrs. Woods’ custody, and only Mrs. Woods had had access to him. On each occasion prior to August 20, Paul was taken to the hospital. On the first occasion, he was immediately released because an [130]*130examination disclosed that he was apparently well. On the other occasions, even after several days’ observation, no reason for his cyanosis or respiratory difficulties could be discovered.
To prove that Paul’s death was neither accidental nor the result of natural causes,5 the government presented the testimony of a forensic pathologist, Dr. DiMaio, who, based upon Paul’s medical history, the records of his various hospitalizations, and the results of an autopsy which the pathologist had performed after Paul’s death stated that Paul’s death was not suicide or accident and that he found no evidence of natural death. Dr. DiMaio expressed his opinion as one of seventy-five percent certainty that Paul’s death was homicide caused by smothering. Dr. DiMaio explained his twenty-five percent degree of doubt as being the possibility that Paul died naturally from a disease currently unknown to medical science, and he agreed that his doubt was a “reasonable doubt” within the standard definition given by the court.6
Next, the government showed that beginning in 1945 Mrs. Woods had had custody of, or access to, nine children who suffered a minimum of twenty episodes of cyanosis. Seven children died, while five had multiple episodes of cy-anosis. Three of the children were her own natural born children; two were children she had adopted; one was a niece; one was a nephew; and two were children of friends.
There follow a listing of the nine other children and a summary of the evidence, favorable to the government, concerning them:
Judy Woods
Judy was adopted by defendant and her husband, and while under the age of two, had at least six episodes of blueness and breathing difficulties. Two episodes occurred on December 12, 1967, and Judy was hospitalized for six days. Another occurred March 22, 1968, and another on February 10, 1969. On March 16, 1969, Judy turned blue but responded to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. On September 9, 1969, there was another episode and Judy was admitted to Kirk Army Hospital and later The Johns Hopkins Hospital. During no hospitalization, nor as a result of any other medical examination or test, was any cause for cyanosis and breathing difficulties discovered. On each occasion that Judy experienced cyanosis she was alone with defendant. When Judy was removed from defendant’s custody after her last discharge from the hospital, she never again suffered from any type of cyanotic condition.
Charles Lewis Stewart
Charles was defendant’s first natural child and although born prematurely in [131]*1311946, was born without congenital malformation. When he was one month old, he experienced two episodes of cyanosis while being held in defendant’s arms. When taken to the hospital, Charles appeared to be in no apparent distress and • his hospital course was normal. Two days after he was released from the hospital, he died after an episode of coughing, choking, and turning blue. Although defendant presented alibi evidence to show that she was not present when he died, the government’s proof was to the contrary. The cause of death listed on the death certificate (“enlarged thymus” and “status lymphaticus”) was shown to have been a medical impossibility.
Mary Elizabeth Huston
Mary was defendant’s second born natural child and she was born in 1950. She died at the age of one month and twenty-seven days. Born prematurely, she spent the first three weeks of her life in a hospital and upon her release to defendant’s care, she suffered four or five episodes of cyanosis at times when Mary was alone with her mother or in her care. She was hospitalized twice, and no medical reason for her cyanosis could be discovered. Her death occurred while she was in defendant’s arms. The causes of death listed on her death certificate (“asphyxiation due to a mucous plug” and “patent foramen ovale”) were shown to have been medically impossible or extremely unlikely.
Carol Ann Huston
Carol was the defendant’s third natural child. She was born January 22, 1952, and died at the age of three months and twenty-one days. She was shown to be a normal, healthy baby, but she experienced cyanosis on the day of her death when she was in the care and custody of her mother. The government’s evidence showed that the cause of death listed on her death certificate (“epiglossitis” and “bronchopneu-monia”) must have been diagnosed after death without an autopsy and that the diagnosis was medically impossible under these circumstances.
John Wise
John was defendant’s nephew who died December 26, 1946, at the age of three years and seven months and who was suffering from diphtheria at the time of his death. The government’s evidence was that John died while he was in bed with the defendant and that three other children from the home who also suffered from diphtheria all survived.
Lilly Marie Stewart
Lilly was defendant’s niece who died May 18, 1958, at the age of fourteen months. The child’s parents awoke one night to find the child in defendant’s arms making a gurgling noise and appearing to be blue around the mouth. When rushed to the hospital, she was dead on arrival. No autopsy was performed.
Eddie Thomas
Eddie, an eighteen-month-old child, and his seven or eight-year-old brother, David, were left with defendant while the mother visited her husband in the hospital. Eddie experienced cyanosis and was taken to the hospital. There he appeared well and was released. His mother observed a bruise on his neck when she bathed him later in the day. Defendant conceded that she had been alone with Eddie when he experienced breathing difficulties. Her explanation of the cause of the difficulty, i.e., a mucous block, was shown to have been a medical impossibility.
Marian Rash
Marian was a child of a friend, who died on May 3, 1964, at the age of eighteen months. During the last five months of his life, he suffered three cy-anotic attacks while in defendant’s care. After the first attack he was hospitalized five days and suffered no seizures while in the hospital. An initial diagnosis of epilepsy was made. The second episode occurred four months later and [132]*132.he was again hospitalized. The third episode occurred on the day he was released from the hospital from the second episode, and the child died. An autopsy failed to reveal a cause of death. The preliminary diagnosis of epilepsy was largely disproved.
In its rebuttal, the government presented the testimony of another pathologist who testified that, in his opinion, Paul was the victim of homicide by smothering.
The government offered no real evidence of any motive for any of the acts charged. Extensive pre-trial investigation of defendant’s sanity failed to disclose any reason why she should not be tried. While the question of her sanity at the time of the alleged offenses was submitted to the jury, the jury’s guilty verdicts indicated that it found her sane.
II.
Defendant’s contention that the government failed to prove the corpus delic-ti beyond a reasonable doubt rests upon the three propositions that (a) proof of the corpus delicti for culpable homicide requires proof of death of the alleged victim and proof that that death occurred by means other than suicide, accident or natural causes, in short, that death occurred by a criminal act, (b) evidence of other crimes is not admissible to show that the death of the alleged victim occurred by homicide, but (c) even if admissible, the proof of other crimes presented by the government in' the instant case was not so clear and convincing as to permit the jury to find that Paul’s death was homicide.
The government counters by asserting that (a) for culpable homicide, the corpus delicti is established by proof of the fact of death alone, i. e., a dead body; a guilty verdict would still require proof that the death was caused by the criminal agency of this defendant, (b) in any event, evidence of these prior acts was admissible to establish both the corpus delicti and the accused’s criminality, and (c) the government evidence of defendant’s prior acts, combined with the evidence concerning the death of Paul Woods, was sufficient to permit the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Paul’s death was a culpable homicide perpetrated by defendant.
A. General. As recognized in VII Wigmore, Evidence § 2072 (1940), proof of homicide requires proof of three elements: proof of death, proof that death occurred through someone’s criminality, and proof of the accused’s identity as the perpetrator of the crime. According to Wigmore, “the term ‘corpus delicti’ . in its orthodox sense . signifies] merely the first of these elements . . . .” Id. p. 401. “But by most judges the term is made to include the second element also, i. e., somebody’s criminality.” (emphasis in original). Id. p. 402. The “orthodox” view is a minority view and one that has not found wide acceptance in the United States. Most jurisdictions require proof of (a) death and (b) death by foul means to establish the corpus delicti of homicide.
The parties agree that in order to sustain defendant’s convictions the government must have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Paul’s death was caused by culpable homicide and that defendant was the perpetrator of the crime. They also agree that the corpus delicti need not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt until the end of the government’s ease. We find it unnecessary therefore to choose between the “orthodox” and the majority view of what constitutes the corpus delicti, because, for the reasons which we will shortly express, we think that the evidence of incidents concerning the other children was admissible generally and was admissible specifically to prove corpus delicti, so that at the end of the government’s case, it had fully met the burden which defendant contends was placed on it. Thus, we proceed directly to discuss whether proof of the prior events concerning the other children was legally admissible to prove that (a) Paul’s death was the result of [133]*133culpable homicide and not of natural causes, and (b) defendant was the perpetrator of the crime.
We state, at the outset, that if otherwise legally admissible, we have no doubt about the relevance of the proof and its probative effect to establish both propositions. The evidence of what happened to the other children was not, strictly speaking, evidence of other crimes. There was no evidence that defendant was an accused with respect to the deaths or respiratory difficulties of the other children, except for Judy. Simultaneously with her trial for crimes alleged against Paul, defendant was being tried for crimes alleged against Judy, but there was no direct proof of defendant’s guilt and the district court ruled that the circumstantial evidence was insufficient for the government to have proved its case. Thus, with regard to no single child was there any legally sufficient proof that defendant had done any act which the law forbids. Only when all of the evidence concerning the nine other children and Paul is considered collectively is the conclusion impelled that the probability that some or all of the other deaths, cyanotic seizures, and respiratory deficiencies were accidental or attributable to natural causes was so remote, the truth must be that Paul and some or all of the other children died at the hands of the defendant. We think also that when the crime is one of infanticide or child abuse, evidence of repeated incidents is especially relevant because it may be the only evidence to prove the crime. A child of the age of Paul and of the others about whom evidence was received is a helpless, defenseless unit of human life. Such a child is too young, if he survives, to relate the facts concerning the attempt on his life, and too young, if he does not survive, to have exerted enough resistance that the marks of his cause of death will survive him. Absent the fortuitous presence of an eyewitness, infanticide or child abuse by suffocation would largely go unpunished. See Minnesota v. Loss, 295 Minn. 271, 204 N.W. 2d 404 (1973).
B. Admissibility of Evidence Generally. The government and the defendant agree that evidence of other crimes is not admissible to prove that an accused is a bad person and therefore likely to have committed the crime in question. Indeed, the rule is beyond dispute: Michelson v. United States, 335 U.S. 469, 475-476, 69 S.Ct. 213, 93 L.Ed. 168 (1948); United States v. Baldivid, 465 F.2d 1277 (4 Cir. 1972), cert, denied, 409 U.S. 1047, 34 L.Ed.2d 499 (1972); United States v. Mastrototaro, 455 F.2d 802 (4 Cir. 1972), cert, denied, 406 U.S. 967, 92 S.Ct. 2411, 32 L.Ed.2d 666 (1972); United States v. Smith, 446 F.2d 200, 203 (4 Cir. 1971); United States v. Samuel, 431 F.2d 610, 612 (4 Cir. 1970); Benton v. United States, 233 F.2d 491 (4 Cir. 1956); Lovely v. United States, 169 F.2d 386 (4 Cir. 1948). Defendant argues that while there are certain recognized exceptions to this rule, the instant case cannot be fitted into any of them, emphasizing that corpus delicti is not an exception. McCormick on Evidence § 190 (Cleary Ed. 1972). The government, in meeting this approach, contends that the evidence was admissible on the theory that it tended to prove (a) the existence of a continuing plan,7 (b) the handiwork or signature exception,8 (c) that the acts alleged in the indictment were not inadvertent, [134]*134accidental, or unintentional, and (d) the defendant’s identity as the perpetrator of the crime. We are inclined to agree with the defendant that the evidence was not admissible under the scheme or continuing plan exception because there was no evidence that defendant engaged in any scheme or plan, or, if so, the objective or motive. The evidence may have been admissible under the lack of accident exception, although ordinarily that exception is invoked only where an accused admits that he did the acts charged but denies the intent necessary to constitute a crime, or contends that he did the acts accidentally. McCormick, p. 450. However, in State v. Lapage, 57 N.H. 245, 294 (1876), there was dictum that under certain circumstances where several children of the same mother had died, evidence of the previous deaths ought to be admissible because of the unlikelihood of such deaths being accidental. Finally, the identity exception is not really an exception in its own right, but rather is spoken of as a supplementary purpose of another exception. McCormick, p. 451.
The handiwork or signature exception is the one which appears most applicable, although defendant’s argument that cyanosis among infants is too common to constitute an unusual and distinctive device unerringly pointing to guilt on her part would not be without force, were it not for the fact that so many children at defendant’s mercy experienced this condition. In the defendant’s case, the “commonness” of the condition is outweighed by its frequency under circumstances where only defendant could have been the precipitating factor.
While we conclude that the evidence was admissible generally under the accident and signature exceptions, we prefer to place our decision upon a broader ground. Simply fitting evidence of this nature into an exception heretofore recognized is, to our minds, too mechanistic an approach.
McCormick, in listing the instances in which evidence of other crimes may be admissible, cautions “that the list is not complete, for the range of relevancy outside the ban is almost infinite . . . .” Id. 448. And then, McCormick states:
[S]ome of the wiser opinions (especially recent ones) recognize that the problem is not merely one of pigeonholing, but one of balancing, on the one side, the actual need for the other crimes evidence in the light of the issues and the other evidence available to the prosecution, the convincingness of the evidence that the other crimes were committed and that the accused was the actor, and the strength or weakness of the other crimes evidence in supporting the issue, and on' the other, the degree to which the jury will probably be roused by the evidence to overmastering hostility.
Id. p. 453. This approach is one which finds support in Dirring v. United States, 328 F.2d 512 (1 Cir. 1964), cert, denied, 377 U.S. 1003, 84 S.Ct. 1939, 12 L.Ed.2d 1052 (1964); and United States v. Hines, 470 F.2d 225 (3 Cir. 1972), cert. den. 410 U.S. 968, 93 S.Ct. 1452, 35 L.Ed.2d 703 (1973). See also United States v. Hallman, 142 U.S.App.D.C. 93, 439 F.2d 603 (D.C. Cir. 1971). These cases stand for the proposition that evidence of other offenses may be received, if relevant, for any purpose other than to show a mere propensity or disposition on the part of the defendant to commit the crime, provided that the trial judge may exclude the evidence if its probative value is outweighed by the risk that its admission will create a substantial danger of undue prejudice to the accused.9
[135]*135As we stated at the outset, we think that the evidence would prove that a crime had been committed because of the remoteness of the possibility that so many infants in the care and custody of defendant would suffer cyanotic episodes and respiratory difficulties if they were not induced by the defendant’s wrongdoing, and at the same time, would prove the identity of defendant as the wrongdoer. Indeed, the evidence is so persuasive and so necessary in case of infanticide or other child abuse by suffocation if the wrongdoer is to be apprehended, that we think that its relevance clearly outweighs its prejudicial effect on the jury.10 We reject defendant’s argument that the proof was not so clear and convincing that its admissibility should not be sustained. As we stated at the outset, if the evidence with regard to each child is considered separately, it is true that some of the incidents are less conclusive than others; but we think the incidents must be considered collectively, and when they are, an unmistakable pattern emerges. That pattern overwhelmingly establishes defendant’s guilt.
C. Admissibility of Evidence to Prove Corpus Delicti. For the reasons stated, the sufficiency of the evidence of (a) what happened to the other children, (b) proof of the fact of Paul’s death, and (c) the government’s expert testimony of the probable cause of death, to prove the corpus delicti was apparent. Defendant argues strenuously, however, that even if admissible for other purposes, the law does not permit evidence of prior acts to be employed to prove the corpus delicti, relying principally upon 1 Wharton’s Criminal Evidence, § 233 pp. 498-500 (12 ed. 1955), which states the rule claimed by defendant and cites upon State v. Donaluzzi, 94 Vt. 142, 109 A. 57 (1920) to support the statement. Donaluzzi is weak authority for the rule that evidence of other acts may not be used to prove the corpus delicti.11 The opinion in Donaluzzi may be read to mean only that the exclusive use of prior acts, without more, cannot establish the corpus delicti. This contrasts with the present case where there was independent proof of the corpus delicti in the circumstances of Paul’s death, although not beyond a reasonable doubt. In fact, in Donaluzzi, the court did find that evidence of the prior act was relevant and there was no error in its admission, so that the statement that the evidence was not admissible to prove the corpus delic-ti appears to be dictum. The other authorities on which defendant relies seem little stronger. They were either eases in which there was a total lack of any evidence of corpus delicti, or mere dictum that corpus delicti might not be proved by evidence of prior acts.12
Counsel have not cited, nor have we found, any case which considers whether or not prior acts can be used to establish the corpus delicti of murder, but the law seems clear that prior acts can be proved to establish the corpus delicti of arson,13 and also that a confes[136]*136sion may be relied upon to prove the corpus delicti if there is other corroborating evidence, short of independent proof of the corpus delicti, to prove the reliability of the confession.14 The rule in cases of arson would seem equally applicable in cases of murder, and the rule with regard to confessions bears a close analogy to the use of other acts to prove murder. We therefore hold that in the instant case proof of the incidents involving other children was admissible to prove the corpus delicti of murder and other acts of child abuse.
D. Alleged Errors in Instructions Regarding Consideration of Evidence of Prior Acts. The district court did not comment on the evidence of the case, but it instructed the jury that “[t]he defendant is not on trial for any act or conduct not alleged in those [the first eight] . . . counts of the indictment.” With regard to the charge of murder, it instructed that premeditation and malice aforethought were necessary elements of the crime and that “[n]o fact, no matter how small, no circumstance, no matter how trivial, which bears upon the questions of malice aforethought and premeditation should escape careful consideration by you as members of the jury.”
Defendant contends that it was error for the district court to have declined to instruct in accordance with her requests Nos. 8 and 14.15 While defendant concedes that the first sentence of her requested instruction No. 14 was given, she contends that it was error for the district court not to have limited the [137]*137jury’s consideration of prior offenses so that the jury might not consider them in deciding whether she committed the crimes charged in the indictment, and that such evidence could be considered by the jury only in determining her state of mind if they found from other evidence that the crimes were committed and that she was the criminal actor. Defendant’s contentions are, of course, consistent with her position regarding the necessity of proof of corpus delicti by evidence other than that of the prior events, but we have decided these contentions adversely to her. It follows, we think, that her objections to the failure to charge should likewise be rejected. Unlike other cases where evidence of prior crimes is admissible for only limited purposes and where it is necessary or proper to give limiting instructions, evidence of the prior events was admissible here to prove both that Paul was the victim of infanticide and that defendant was the perpetrator of the crime. In this case, therefore, the district court was correct in not limiting the jury’s consideration of the proof of prior events as requested by defendant.
Defendant also contends that when it granted a judgment of acquittal on the three counts charging abuse of Judy at the close of the government’s case, the district court was in error in permitting the jury to consider the evidence concerning Judy in determining defendant’s guilt or innocence of Paul’s death. In submitting the case to the jury with respect to Paul, the district court instructed, “[ajlthough this Court has granted the motion for acquittal of the defendant as to the three counts of the indictment relating to Judy Woods, nevertheless, testimony concerning events allegedly relating to Judy Woods on or about September 9, 1969, and the other times and testimony also allegedly relating to other children may be taken into account by you in connection with the eight counts of the indictment relating to Paul Woods.” An examination of the record shows that the court granted the motion for judgment of acquittal as to the counts relating to Judy on the theory that only defendant’s uncorroborated statements indicated that Judy had suffered cyanosis and, lacking independent corroboration, these statements were legally insufficient to establish the commission of a crime.16 The defendant’s' argument is grounded primarily on Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970), and United States v. Kramer, 289 F.2d 909 (2 Cir. 1961), which held that the doctrine of collateral estoppel applied in criminal prosecutions, i.e., “that when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.” 397 U.S. at 443, 90 S.Ct. at 1194.
Collateral estoppel bars relitigation in subsequent proceedings of those determinations of fact, and mixed fact and law, that were essential to the original decision. Yates v. United States, 354 U.S. 298, 336, 77 S.Ct. 1064, 1 L.Ed.2d 1356 (1957). The doctrine also bars a party from attempting to prove a second time a fact he sought unsuccessfully to prove in a prior action, since “the nonexistence of a fact may be established by a judgment no less than its existence.” Yates, at 335, 77 S.Ct. at 1085; Sealfon v. United States, 332 U.S. 575, 68 S.Ct. 237, 92 L.Ed. 180 (1948). Ashe and Sealfon are authority for examining the complete record of the initial trial to determine what has been litigated and decided.
[138]*138In this case, the “ultimate” fact or “fact essential to the original decision” with regard to Judy was that the government had failed to introduce sufficient evidence independent of defendant’s statements to corroborate those statements and establish that a crime had been committed against Judy. The district court’s ruling did not discredit or otherwise reach any conclusion as to the statements themselves; their independent relevance or legitimacy was not a fact ultimate or essential to the ruling.
Our reading is supported by the simple fact that in considering the charges involving Paul, the district court instructed the jury that it might consider the evidence concerning Judy. We could not lightly presume that the court would permit the jury to consider the evidence concerning Judy if it had concluded that defendant was innocent of misconduct toward Judy rather than that there was a mere technical failure of proof to prove such conduct.
In our view, therefore, the verdict of acquittal with respect to Judy did not constitute an adjudication that defendant committed no acts of misconduct against Judy. The defendant’s statements regarding Judy were sufficiently relevant, incriminating and necessary for the prosecution, to overbalance any prejudice they might cause, thus meeting the test for admissibility of prior acts. The government properly continued to use these statements as evidence tending to prove, together with evidence concerning the other children, that defendant had committed a criminal act against Paul.
III.
Defendant’s final contention is that the district court was in error when it concluded that upon the verdict of guilty of first degree murder of Paul, defendant could not be sentenced to life imprisonment under 18 U.S.C. § 4208(a)(2) so as to render her eligible for parole at any time that the Parole Board might determine. We find no merit in the contention. Since the decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L. Ed.2d 346 (1972), the statute under which defendant was convicted of first degree murder, 18 U.S.C. § 1111, provides as the only possible sentence “imprisonment for life.” Additionally, the government did not ask for the death penalty in this case. Of course, 18 U.S. C. § 4202 also applies and that statute makes fifteen years’ incarceration a condition precedent to parole eligibility for offenders sentenced to life imprisonment.
Section 4208(a)(2), which permits a district court to make a sentenced offender eligible for parole at such time as the Parole Board may determine, irrespective of any other requirement fixing a minimum sentence as a condition precedent to parole eligibility, was enacted as part of § 4208 by Pub.L. 85-752, 72 Stat. 845 (August 25, 1958). Section 7 of Pub.L. 85-752 by its terms states that § 4208 “does not apply to any offense for which there is provided a mandatory penalty”, and the legislative history of Pub.L. 85-752 stated that the purpose of the enactment was “to assure that the mandatory penalties provided by statute for special categories of crime, such as armed robbery of a post office . . . shall not be affected.” S.Rep. No. 2013 (1958); 2 U.S.Code Cong, and Admin.News, 85th Cong., 2nd Sess. 3892 (1958). At the time of its enactment, the penalty for armed robbery of a post office was twenty-five years, with no statutory provision authorizing the imposition of a lesser penalty. The penalty for armed robbery of a post office has accordingly been considered a mandatory penalty by federal courts and one which may not be imposed under § 4208(a)(2). United States v. Cameron, 351 F.2d 448 (7 Cir. 1965); United States v. Hardaway, 350 F.2d 1021 (6 Cir. 1965). Additionally, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has stated that the offense of first degree murder under the District of Columbia Code which carries a penalty of life imprisonment is a [139]*139“mandatory” penalty under Pub.L. 85-752, so that a defendant convicted of first degree murder may not be sentenced as a young adult offender under § 4209, which § 7 of Pub.L. 85-752 also makes inapplicable where a “mandatory” sentence is provided. United States v. Howard, 146 U.S.App.D.C. 10, 449. F.2d 1086,1092-1093 (D.C. Cir. 1971).
We think that the life sentence provided for in 18 U.S.C. § 1111 is indistinguishable from the life sentence imposed for first degree murder under the District of Columbia Code. We are persuaded to follow the decisions of the Seventh, the Sixth and the District of Columbia Circuits which are direct authority for the conclusion that the district court in the instant case was without authority to impose a life sentence under § 4208(a)(2). We note that 18 U.S.C. § 3651 prohibits either probation or a suspended sentence for crimes punishable by life imprisonment, such as first degree murder, so that we are not met with the problem which troubled the court in Jones v. United States, 419 F.2d 593 (8 Cir. 1969) ; namely, that if the sentence for armed robbery of a post office under 18 U.S.C. § 2114 were deemed mandatory, a defendant found guilty could be placed on probation or given a suspended sentence but could not be made eligible for parole prior to serivce of one-third of the twenty-five year sentence.
Affirmed.