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486 U.S. 1306

Morison v. United States

Supreme Court of the United States · decided June 2, 1988.

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“(1) ... (T)he judicial officer shall order that a person who has been found guilty of an offense and sentenced to a term of imprisonment, and who has filed an appeal ... be detained, unless the judicial officer finds— (B) that the appeal is not for the purpose of delay and raises a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in— (iii) a sentence that does not include a term of imprisonment, or (iv) a reduced sentence to a term of imprisonment less than... the expected duration of the appeal process. If the judicial officer makes such findings, such judicial officer shall order the release of the person in accordance with section 3142(b) or (c) of this title.... 1”

quoted by 3 later decisions, including United States v. Burk, 289 F. Supp. 2d 1311 - United States v. Moncrief

Applies 18 U.S.C. § 3143 (Bail Reform Act of 1984) · 18 U.S.C. § 641 · 18 U.S.C. § 793

Relies on United States v. Morison · United States v. Bayko

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided June 2, 1988.

How this case has been cited

Cited by 196 later decisions (7 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2021 · most notably Felder v. Casey (1988), Howlett Ex Rel. Howlett v. Rose (1990)

49 federal appellate · 10 district · 66 state decisions — followed in 21 states

77019881990200020102020decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Chief Justice REHNQUIST, Circuit Justice.

¶1

Samuel Loring Morison was convicted in the District Court of two counts each of espionage, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 793(d), (e), and theft of Government property, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641. His conviction was affirmed on appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 844 F.2d 1057 (1988), and he now asks that he be allowed to remain free on bond pending the consideration of his yet-to-be-filed petition for writ of certiorari. The statutory standard for determining whether a convicted defendant is entitled to be released pending a certiorari petition is clearly set out in 18 U.S.C. § 3143(b)(1982 ed., Supp. IV), and the only real issue in this application is whether Morison's appeal "raises a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in reversal, an order for a new trial, or a sentence that does not include a term of imprisonment." I agree with the courts below, however, that regardless of whether Morison has raised a "substantial question" with respect to the propriety of his conviction under the Espionage Act, he has not done so with respect to his conviction for theft of Government property under § 641. Because Morison has not shown that his appeal is "likely to result in reversal" with respect to all the counts for which imprisonment was imposed, see United States v. Bayko, 774 F.2d 516, 522 (CA1 1985), his application is denied.

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