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292 F.2d 49

Docket No. 14485.

Scott v. United States

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals

Decided June 30, 1961.

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 1961-06-30

2 counsel of record

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““The District Judge pointed out that there was no controversy with respect to the Court’s files and records and that the transcript adequately refuted the allegations contained in appellant’s motion, that such allegations constituted mere denials of fact which hé readily admitted at his arraignment and were insufficient to raise substantial issues of fact within the meaning of United States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205 , 72 S.Ct. 263 , 96 L.Ed. 232 , or to invoke the power of the Court under Section 2255, Title 28, U.S.Code, or under Rule 32(d), Rules of Criminal Procedure. The District Judge held that the files and records of the Court showed that the appellant was not entitled to relief. The motion was denied without a hearing and the proceeding dismissed, followed by this appeal, at which appellant is represented by competent court-appointed counsel. Appellant’s main contention is that he was improperly denied a hearing by the District Judge. “We concur in the rulings of the District Judge. * * * ””

quoted by 1 later decision, including Moore v. United States

Applies 26 U.S.C. § 5841 (§ 201 of the Gun Control Act of 1968)

Relies on United States v. Hayman · Wales ex rel. Wales Trucking Co. v. United States · Massengale v. United States

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1961-06-30

How this case has been cited

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently December 1983

8 federal appellate ·

80196119701980decided

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 →

¶1*50James Park, Jr., Lexington, Ky. (Robert F. Stephens, Lexington, Ky., on the brief), for appellant.

¶2John W. Morgan, Asst. U. S. Atty., Lexington, Ky. (Jean L. Auxier, U. S. Atty., Lexington, Ky., on the brief), for appellee.

¶3Before MILLER, Chief Judge, and CECIL and O’SULLIVAN, Circuit Judges.

¶4SHACKELFORD MILLER, Jr., Chief Judge.

¶5Appellant, who was represented at the time by counsel of his own choosing, entered pleas of guilty on January 31, 1957 to two counts of an indictment charging (1) conspiracy to rob a national bank and (2) with attempting to enter a national bank with intent to commit a felony, in violation of Sections 371 and 2113, Title 18 U.S.Code, and also to three counts of an indictment charging him with (1) stealing certain firearms, which were the property of the United States, and (2) and (3) the unlawful possession of two 45-caliber machine guns, in violation of Section 641, Title 18, U.S.Code, and Section 5841, Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 5841. He received sentences totaling thirty years imprisonment.

¶6On July 11, 1960, about three and one-half years later, appellant, while serving his sentence in the United States Penitentiary at Alcatraz, moved to withdraw his pleas of guilty pursuant to Rule 32(d), Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C., and Section 2255, Title 28, U.S. Code, on the ground that at his arraignment he was without effective representation by counsel, that he was under the influence of drugs which rendered him incapable of understanding the consequences of his acts, that his pleas of guilty were obtained through fraudulent legal advice of the prosecution before he could consult with a defense attorney, and as a result of certain legal advice and promises made by the prosecution and F.B.I. agents, all of which he asserts was a part of the “full picture of trickery and deceit practiced upon him and the court by the Prosecution and F.B.I. agents.”

¶7The transcript of the proceedings upon arraignment shows that in addition to being represented by counsel of his own choosing, appellant was personally questioned by the District Judge and stated to the Court that his counsel had carefully explained to him the charges contained in the two indictments, that he understood the charges, that his pleas of guilty were not induced or in any way brought about by any promise or assurance of any kind from any person, and that he was pleading guilty of his *51own free and voluntary accord after he understood the charges.

¶8The District Judge pointed out that there was no controversy with respect to the Court’s files and records and that the transcript adequately refuted the allegations contained in appellant’s motion, that such allegations constituted mere denials of fact which he readily admitted at his arraignment and were insufficient to raise substantial issues of fact within the meaning of United States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205, 72 S.Ct. 263, 96 L.Ed. 232, or to invoke the power of the Court under Section 2255, Title 28, U.S. Code, or under Rule 32(d), Rules of Criminal Procedure. The District Judge held that the files and records of the Court showed that the appellant was not entitled to relief. The motion was denied without a hearing and the proceeding dismissed, followed by this appeal, at which appellant is represented by competent court-appointed counsel. Appellant’s main contention is that he was improperly denied a hearing by the District Judge.

¶9We concur in the rulings of the District Judge. Johnson v. United States, 6 Cir., 239 F.2d 698, certiorari denied 354 U.S. 940, 77 S.Ct. 1404, 1 L.Ed.2d 1539; United States v. Thomas, 6 Cir., 291 F.2d 478, and cases therein cited; Burgett v. United States, 8 Cir., 237 F.2d 247, certiorari denied, 352 U.S. 1031, 77 S.Ct. 596, 1 L.Ed.2d 599; Dario Sanchez v. United States, 1 Cir., 256 F.2d 73, 75-76; Juelich and Larson v. United States, 6 Cir., 257 F.2d 424; O’Malley v. United States, 6 Cir., 285 F.2d 733.

¶10Appellant’s motion to withdraw his plea of guilty came after imposition of sentence. Under Rule 32(d), Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Court will consider such a motion made after imposition of sentence only for the purpose of correcting manifest injustice. The District Judge has a wide discretion in passing on a motion to set aside a plea of guilty and his ruling will not be disturbed unless there is an abuse of that discretion. Vasquez v. United States, 9 Cir., 279 F.2d 34; Friedman v. United States, 8 Cir., 200 F.2d 690, 696-697, certiorari denied, 345 U.S. 926, 73 S.Ct. 784, 97 L.Ed. 1357, rehearing denied 345 U.S. 961, 73 S.Ct. 937, 97 L.Ed. 1381. No abuse of discretion is shown in the present case.

¶11The judgment of the District Court is affirmed.

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