United States v. Robinson

74 F. Supp. 427, 1947 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2101
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedNovember 26, 1947
DocketCriminal No. 4683
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 74 F. Supp. 427 (United States v. Robinson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.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. Robinson, 74 F. Supp. 427, 1947 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2101 (W.D. Ark. 1947).

Opinion

JOHN E. MILLER, District Judge.

On May 20, 1947, the defendant was being held in jail at Fort Smith, Arkansas, being unable to make bond upon the charge of transporting in Interstate Commerce a stolen motor vehicle from Kansas City, Missouri, to Waldron, Arkansas, knowing at the time that the said automobile had been stolen. He was brought before the court and advised of the nature of the charge and his right, if he so desired, to waive prosecution upon indictment. In open court he waived his right to prosecution upon an indictment and consented that the charge might be presented by information. Accordingly the United States Attorney filed an information and furnished him with a copy thereof, in which information it was charged that on or about the 24th day of January, 1947, the defendant had transported in Interstate Commerce a stolen motor vehicle, the property of Paul M. Thompson, from Kansas City, Missouri, to Waldron, Arkansas, and at the time of said transportation the defendant knew the automobile to have been stolen. On the [428]*428same date the defendant being without counsel and being fully-advised of his right to counsel to represent him and that the court would appoint counsel to represent him, if he so desired, stated that he did not desire the assistance of counsel and waived the appointment of counsel for him by the court. Also, after being fully advised of the consequences of a plea of guilty or a conviction on the charge contained in the information, the defendant entered a plea of guilty and was duly sentenced to a term of three years in prison.

The same procedure was followed in Criminal Case No. 4684 in which the defendant was charged with transporting in Interstate Commerce, from Kansas City Missouri, to Waldron, Arkansas, a forged hill of sale for a certain automobile, knowing that the automobile had been stolen and that the bill of sale was forged. Upon a pica of guilty to the charge in that case the defendant was sentenced for three years to run concurrently with the sentence of three years adjudged by the court in Criminal Case No. 4683. On August 9, 1947, the defendant filed a motion to vacate the judgment in both cases and alleged that he is entitled to discharge from the custody of the Warden of the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, because the court in sentencing him to imprisonment- was without jurisdiction, in that the court did not have exclusive jurisdiction of the person of the defendant

As a part of the motion the defendant included what he designates as a brief in which he contends that because of the fact that he was on parole from Attica State Prison, Attica, New York, where he had been confined upon a judgment of a court of the state of New York finding him guilty of an offense against the laws of the state of New York, that .the state court of New York had jurisdiction of the defendant and that this court did not have such jurisdiction as would authorize it to sentence the defendant to prison; that the state court of New York State had not completed its lawful process because a warrant of detain-er had been placed in the hands of the United States Marshall at Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the time the sentence was imposed upon the defendant by this court.

He further contends that this court should have directed that any sentence imposed be served concurrently with the sentence that had been imposed by the state court in New York State and that the only imprisonment that could be rightfully imposed upon the defendant was for such time as the time fixed by this court exceeded the remainder of the sentence which might be required to he served by the state court of New York because of the violation of the parole issued, to him by the prison authorities of New York State. The defendant further alleged that prior to his plea of guilty he advised the United States Attorney by letter that he was on parole from a prison in the state of New York and for that reason this court did not have jurisdiction.

The defendant waived his right to appear in court in person for a hearing of the motion and requested that an attorney be appointed to represent him in this proceeding.

On September 8, 1942, the court appointed Honorable John Brizzolara, a reputable member of the bar of this court, to represent the defendant and he at once entered upon his duties. On October 30, 1947, the defendant wrote Mr. Brizzolara requesting him to ask the court to assign another lawyer to present the motion, and accordingly on November 5, following the request of the defendant, Mr. J. Clib Barton, a reputable member of the bar of this court and a member of the firm of Hardin, Barton & Shaw of Fort Smith, Arkansas, was appointed.

Mr. Barton has ably discharged the duty devolving upon him under such appointment and has presented to the court the contentions of the defendant and has supplied the court with citations of authority which he has argued support the contentions of the defendant.

Among the many authorities cited by the attorney for the defendant are: Grant et al. v. Guernsey, 10 Cir., 63 F.2d 163; Zerbst, Warden v. McPike, 5 Cir., 97 F.2J 253; Rohr v. Hudspeth, Warden, 10 Cir., 105 F.2d 747; Lunsford v. Hudspeth, Warden, 10 Cir., 126 F.2d 653; and Stamphill v. Johnston, 9 Cir., 136 F.2d 291. These [429]*429authorities have been examined and the contentions of the defendant, as made in his motion and as presented by his attorney, have been carefully considered, but all of them are without merit and cannot be sustained. The decisions above referred to are distinguishable upon the facts. The court does not feel that a discussion of each case cited by the defendant is justified in view of the facts, as reflected by the record before the court.

Assuming without deciding the question, the court has treated the procedure adopted by the defendant as proper to test the validity of the sentences of which he complains.

The Federal and State governments exist as separate sovereignties, each exercising jurisdiction over its particular fields, and the jurisdiction of one ordinarily may not be interfered with by the other. A person may perform acts which will subject him to criminal prosecution in one or the other of these sovereignties or in both. In this case the defendant, by his acts, subjected himself to punishment by New York State, and later, by subsequent and unrelated acts, subjected himself to punishment by the Federal Government.

The United States District Court is given original jurisdiction in the case of criminal offenses committed against the Federal Government. 28 U.S.C.A. § 41(2). It obviously cannot occupy the position of a court of secondary jurisdiction to a state court in regard to a federal crime. Of course, it may be that, as heretofore mentioned, the same acts constitute a crime in both sovereignties. In such cases the one assuming jurisdiction first normally retains it until it has completed its process. United States v. Marrin, D.C. Pa., 227 F. 314; Ponzi v. Fessenden et al., 258 U.S. 254, 42 S.Ct. 309, 66 L.Ed. 607, 22 A.L.R. 879. But this principle is not absolute and is stated as follows in Morse v. United States, 267 U.S. 80, 45 S.Ct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
74 F. Supp. 427, 1947 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-robinson-arwd-1947.