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379 F.2d 312

Docket No. 464, Docket 31041.

Accardi v. United States

Second Circuit Court of Appeals

Submitted May 17, 1967.

Decided June 20, 1967.

Second Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 1967-06-20

2 counsel of record

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“A prisoner in custody under sentence of a court established by Act of Congress claiming the right to be released upon the ground that the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, or that the court was without jurisdiction to impose such sentence, or that the sentence was in excess of the maximum authorized by law, or is otherwise subject to collateral attack, may move the court which imposed the sentence to vacate, set aside or correct the sentence. A motion for such relief may be made at any time. Unless the motion and the files and records of the case conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief, the court shall cause notice thereof to be served upon the United States attorney, grant a prompt hearing thereon, determine the issues and make findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect thereto. . An appeal may be taken to the court of appeals from the order entered on the motion as from a final judgment on application for a writ of habeas corpus.”

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

Applies 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996)

Relies on California v. Stewart · United States v. Accardi

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Opinion by (per_curiam) · Decided 1967-06-20

How this case has been cited

Cited by 17 later decisions — most recently November 2009

14 federal appellate · 1 district ·

10019671970198019902000decided

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*313Sam Accardi, pro se.

¶2Robert M. Morgenthau, U. S. Atty. for Southern Dist. of New York, New York City (Charles P. Sifton and Michael W. Mitchell, Asst. U. S. Attys., on the brief), for appellee.

¶3Before LUMBARD and MOORE, Circuit Judges, and BONSAL,* District Judge.

¶5PER CURIAM:

¶6Appellant was indicted in 1955 on five counts of violating and conspiring to violate federal laws relating to narcotics. After pleading not guilty to all counts and posting a bail bond in the amount of $75,000, appellant failed to appear as required before the District Court and bail was forfeited. Appellant was thereafter located in his native Italy and returned to this country by Presidential Warrant in 1963. Appellant was tried in 1964 on four of the original five counts, found guilty on all four counts and was sentenced to five years on each of three of the four counts, the sentences to run consecutively, and received a suspended sentence on the fourth count. In addition, he was fined a total of $16,000. Appellant’s conviction was affirmed by this Court. 2 Cir., 342 F.2d 697; cert. denied, 382 U.S. 954, 86 S.Ct. 426, 15 L.Ed.2d 359 (1965).

¶7In September 1966, appellant filed the instant motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to have his judgment of conviction and sentence set aside on two grounds: (1) that he was unable to understand the charges against him and to assist his counsel in the preparation of a defense as a result of his ignorance of the English language, and (2) that he was incompetent to stand trial as a result of treatments he was receiving during the course of the trial. Judge Cannella, who had also presided over appellant’s original trial, denied the motion without a hearing and this appeal followed.

¶8Appellant’s affidavit in support of his § 2255 petition consists of six sentences totally devoid of any factual elaboration concerning the basis of his claims. In addition, appellant’s unsworn petition consists of conelusory statements which are totally contradicted by the record of the trial. Judge Cannella, who having presided over the original trial was familiar with the facts, acted well within his discretion in denying the petition without a hearing. The “files and records of the case conclusively show” (§ 2255) that appellant is entitled to no relief. During his trial, he conferred with his trial attorney in the English language. Except for brief periods, he had been in this country since 1927 and had been in business here. He testified on his own behalf without an interpreter, the services of whom were rejected by his counsel, and he did not claim any unfamiliarity with nor lack of understanding of English during his trial. Nor was any proof presented that any medical condition interfered with the presentation by him and his counsel of a vigorous defense.

¶9Affirmed.

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