United States v. Obie Diah Strother

458 F.2d 424
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJune 1, 1972
Docket71-1416
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 458 F.2d 424 (United States v. Obie Diah Strother) 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. Obie Diah Strother, 458 F.2d 424 (5th Cir. 1972).

Opinions

SIMPSON, Circuit Judge:

On September 25, 1963, Obie Diah Strother pleaded guilty to the indictment in Criminal No. 5131, to charges of conspiring to rob a federally insured bank in violation of Title 18, U.S.C., Section 371, and robbing said federally insured bank in violation of Title 18, U. S.C., Section 2113(e). He further entered guilty pleas to each count of the indictment in Criminal No. 5133, charging transportation of a stolen vehicle in interstate commerce with knowledge that it was stolen in violation of Title 18, U.S.C., Section 2312 and concealment of that same vehicle in violation of Title 18, U.S.C., Section 2313.1 The district court imposed consecutive confinement sentences of three years for conspiracy and twelve years for the bank robbery offense, two years for the Section 2312 offense and two years for the Section 2313 offense, a commitment to prison totaling twenty-one years.

After his single co-defendant, John James Szoyka, Jr., was acquitted on January 16, 1964, of the conspiracy and bank robbery charges, Strother filed a petition for writ of error coram nobis attacking the validity of his conspiracy sentence and a motion to withdraw his guilty plea to the Section 2313(e) charge. Both the petition and the motion were denied by the district court on May 29, 1967. Strother unsuccessfully appealed the denial of the motion to withdraw his guilty plea to this Court. Strother v. United States, 5 Cir. 1967, 387 F.2d 385, cert. denied 1968, 391 U.S. 971, 88 S.Ct. 2038, 20 L.Ed.2d 886. In affirming the denial of Strother’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea to the concealment charge, we held it was not double jeopardy in violation of the Fifth Amendment for the government to have charged him with both transporting in interstate commerce and concealing the same vehicle, citing Woody v. United States, 6 Cir. 1957, 258 F.2d 535.

On November 14, 1969, Strother filed an amended petition for writ of error coram nobis2 in which he alleged: (1) [426]*426that the acquittal of Szoyka, the only alleged co-conspirator, rendered his own conspiracy conviction void as a matter of law; (2) that his guilty plea to the conspiracy charge was not tendered with an understanding of the nature of the charge; and (3) that his guilty plea to concealment of the motor vehicle was not entered with an understanding of the consequences of the plea. The district court denied the petition without an evidentiary hearing.

On appeal, we reversed and remanded for an evidentiary hearing, expressly reserving decision on the effect of Szoy-ka’s subsequent acquittal on the validity of Strother’s conspiracy conviction. United States v. Strother, 5 Cir. 1970, 434 F.2d 1292. Pursuant to our mandate, the district court conducted an evi-dentiary hearing with respect to Strother’s second and third contentions. Following the hearing, the district court once again, on February 2, 1971, denied Strother’s motion to vacate sentence. After examination and consideration of the record, transcript of the proceedings below, the district court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law, and the appellate briefs of the parties, we affirm.

The Effect of Szoyka’s Subsequent Acquittal.

In Rosecrans v. United States, 5 Cir. 1967, 378 F.2d 561, this Court affirmed the denial of a motion under Title 28, U.S.C., Section 2255, filed by an individual whose guilty plea to conspiring to violate the civil rights of black citizens of Duval County, Florida, was followed by the acquittal of all five named co-defendants. The indictment to which Rosecrans plead guilty, in addition to naming six co-conspirators, referred to co-conspirators whose identities were unknown to the grand jury. We held that the subsequent acquittal of the five named co-conspirators did not undermine the validity of Rosecrans’ guilty plea:

“A plea of guilty is not a mere admission or extrajudicial confession of guilt, but it is a conviction, and is as conclusive as the verdict of a jury.
“The subsequent acquittal of Rosecrans’ five codefendants does not constitute a refutation of Rosecrans’ guilt, which he solemnly admitted by his plea of guilty. Such acquittal may have been the result of the failure of the United States to produce evidence at the trials satisfying the jury of the eodefendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, or because of other reasons.” (378 F.2d at 567)

Although our decision in Rosecrans, supra, is factually distinguishable from the situation now before us in that Szoyka was the only additional individual named as a co-conspirator in the indictment to which Strother pleaded guilty, and no reference is made to unnamed co-conspirators “whose identity is to the grand jurors unknown”, we believe that the rationale of Rosecrans is controlling. The fact that the United States was unsuccessful in its effort to convict Szoyka of the offenses of bank robbery and conspiracy does not vitiate the validity of Strother’s guilty plea to the conspiracy count. Szoyka’s acquittal could have resulted from a multiplicity of factors completely unrelated to the actual existence of a conspiracy. Accordingly, we reject Strother’s first attack upon his conviction for conspiracy to commit bank robbery.3

[427]*427 The Guilty Plea to the Conspiracy Charge.

On the date of his arraignment, Strother asked for and received appointed counsel. Two attorneys were designated to represent him, one of whom had been in the practice of criminal law for several years. The other had entered law practice after serving as a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for twenty-five years. Strother was reluctant to plead guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit bank robbery because of his concern for its effect upon the chances of his co-defendant, Szoyka. Although Strother strenuously contended that Szoyka had had nothing to do with the robbery of the Hancock Bank at Mississippi City, the United States Attorney refused to accept a guilty plea to the bank robbery count without a guilty plea to the conspiracy count. After negotiations with the United States Attorney proved unavailing and after the district judge refused to involve himself, Strother appeared before the district judge in the company of his counsel that same day. After an extensive inquiry by the Court into the voluntariness of the proposed plea, Strother pleaded guilty to both the conspiracy and robbery counts. The colloquy between the Court, Strother, and appointed defense counsel regarding the guilty plea to the conspiracy and robbery charges is set forth in the margin.4

[428]*428At the time of Strother’s indictment and guilty pleas, Rule 11, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, read, in pertinent part:

“ . . . The court may refuse to accept a plea of guilty, and shall not accept the plea without first determining that the plea is made voluntarily with understanding of the nature of the charge . . . ”

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

Related

United States v. Espinosa
Fifth Circuit, 2021
Honey Dew Associates, Inc. v. Monaco (In Re Monaco)
347 B.R. 454 (D. Massachusetts, 2006)
United States v. Eric Kimble
139 F. App'x 221 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
State v. Colon
778 A.2d 875 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2001)
Marquiz v. People
726 P.2d 1105 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1986)
Hayes v. Cuyler
547 F. Supp. 395 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1982)
United States v. Harold Lee Deal
678 F.2d 1062 (Eleventh Circuit, 1982)
Commonwealth v. Byrd
417 A.2d 173 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Gardner v. State
408 A.2d 1317 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1979)
United States v. Gates
8 M.J. 631 (U.S. Army Court of Military Review, 1979)
C. Carey Matthews v. United States
569 F.2d 941 (Fifth Circuit, 1978)
People v. Superior Court (Jackson)
44 Cal. App. 3d 494 (California Court of Appeal, 1975)
Bartelt v. United States
505 F.2d 647 (Fifth Circuit, 1974)
Thomas J. Patterson, 92810 v. United States
487 F.2d 341 (Fifth Circuit, 1973)
Riscard v. United States
355 F. Supp. 671 (D. Puerto Rico, 1972)
United States v. Obie Diah Strother
458 F.2d 424 (Fifth Circuit, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
458 F.2d 424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-obie-diah-strother-ca5-1972.