Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/358/169/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 08:18:39+00:00

Document:
the sentences to run consecutively. [Footnote 2] Upon completion of the first 10-year sentence, the petitioner made a motion in the District Court, under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, to correct the second, and consecutive, sentence. He supported his motion by allegations that the evidence at his trial showed that he fired a single discharge from a shotgun into the front seat of an automobile, and that the pellets wounded the two federal officers, who were transporting an arrested prisoner. He contended that in this circumstance he was guilty of but one "assault" within the meaning of former § 254, and accordingly was subject to only one punishment. The District Court denied his motion, and the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed. 230 F.2d 726. Both courts held that the wounding of two federal officers by the single discharge of a shotgun would constitute a separate offense against each officer under the statute. We granted certiorari, 352 U.S. 907, to consider the construction of § 254 in light of principles applied to construe the federal criminal statutes involved in Bell v. United States, 349 U. S. 81; United States v. Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp., 344 U. S. 218, and Prince v. United States, 352 U. S. 322. We affirmed the Court of Appeals by an equally divided Court, 355 U. S. 282, but vacated our judgment, and set the case for reargument, when a petition for rehearing was granted. 356 U.S. 969. Reargument was had this Term.
Court should nevertheless determine it sua sponte. Moreover, there was only meagre argument of the question of the availability of the remedy in this case. The Government submitted only a short discussion of the question in the body of its brief, and made only a passing reference to it toward the close of the oral argument. The question of the scope of collateral attack upon criminal sentences is an important and complex one, judging from the number of decisions discussing it in the District Courts and the Courts of Appeals. We think that we should have the benefit of a full argument before dealing with the question. We therefore proceed to construe former 18 U.S.C. § 254 without, however, intimating any view as to the availability of a collateral remedy in another case where that question is properly raised, and is adequately briefed and argued in this Court.
"The legislation was aimed at protecting federal officers, not only to promote the orderly functioning of the federal government (whose efficiency would diminish in proportion to the number of individual officers affected), but also to protect the individual officers, as 'wards' of the federal government, from personal harm. Both of these legislative objectives make the individual officers a separate unit of protection."
which has an impact on two officers is only one offense when the act is not an assault, an act of assault can be only one offense even though it has an impact on two officers.
Moreover, an interpretation that there are as many assaults committed as there are officers affected would produce incongruous results. Punishments totally disproportionate to the act of assault could be imposed, because it will often be the case that the number of officers affected will have little bearing upon the seriousness of the criminal act. For an assault is ordinarily held to be committed merely by putting another in apprehension of harm, whether or not the actor actually intends to inflict or is capable of inflicting that harm. [Footnote 5] Thus, under the meaning for which the Government contends, one who shoots and seriously wounds an officer would commit one offense punishable by 10 years' imprisonment, but if he points a gun at five officers, putting all of them in apprehension of harm, he would commit five offenses punishable by 50 years' imprisonment, even though he does not fire the gun, and no officer actually suffers injury. It is difficult, without a clear indication than the materials before us provide, to find that Congress intended this result.
It is therefore apparent that § 254 may as reasonably be read to mean that the single discharge of the shotgun would constitute an "assault" without regard to the number of federal officers affected, as it may be read to mean that as many "assaults" would be committed as there were officers affected. Neither the wording of the statute nor its legislative history points clearly to either meaning. In that circumstance, the Court applies a policy of lenity, and adopts the less harsh meaning.
the harsher alternative, to require that Congress should have spoken in language that is clear and definite. We should not derive criminal outlawry from some ambiguous implication."
"When Congress leaves to the Judiciary the task of imputing to Congress an undeclared will, the ambiguity should be resolved in favor of lenity."
See also Prince v. United States, supra; Gore v. United States, 357 U. S. 386, 357 U. S. 391. This policy of lenity means that the Court will not interpret a federal criminal statute so as to increase the penalty that it places on an individual when such an interpretation can be based on no more than a guess as to what Congress intended. If Congress desires to create multiple offenses from a single act affecting more than one federal officer, Congress can make that meaning clear. We thus hold that the single discharge of a shotgun alleged by the petitioner in this case would constitute only a single violation of § 254.
[and] there must be a hearing [at which] the [petitioner] is entitled to be present."
230 F.2d at 726, 728. See United States v. Hayman, 342 U. S. 205, 342 U. S. 219-220; Walker v. Johnston, 312 U. S. 275. Because the proceedings at the petitioner's trial were not transcribed, [Footnote 7] it will be necessary at the hearing on the motion to reconstruct the trial record. We decide only the issue tendered by the parties, and intimate no view as to whether the petitioner may be entitled to correction of the consecutive sentence under any different fact situation which the reconstructed trial record may disclose.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed and the case is remanded to the District Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
"Whoever shall forcibly resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with any person . . . [if he is a federal officer designated in § 253] while engaged in the performance of his official duties, or shall assault him on account of the performance of his official duties, shall be . . . imprisoned not more than three years . . . ; and whoever, in the commission of any of the acts described in this section, shall use a deadly or dangerous weapon shall be . . . imprisoned not more than ten years. . . ."
18 U.S.C. (1940 ed.) § 254.
Ladner was convicted by a jury on three separate counts -- one for conspiring to assault the officers, a second for assaulting one of the officers, and a third for assaulting the other officer. He was sentenced for two years on the conspiracy count, which sentence was to run concurrently with a 10-year sentence for assaulting one of the officers. A 10-year sentence imposed for the assault on the second officer was to run from and after the expiration of the first two sentences. Thus, Ladner was sentenced to a total jail term of 20 years. The proceedings instituted by Ladner's co-conspirator, one Cameron, for post-conviction relief are reported in United States v. Cameron, 84 F.Supp. 289.
"I wish again to renew the recommendation of this Department that legislation be enacted making it a Federal offense forcibly to resist, impede, or interfere with, or to assault or kill, any official or employee of the United States while engaged in, or on account of, the performance of his official duties. Congress has already made it a Federal offense to assault, resist, etc., officers or employees of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture while engaged in or on account of the execution of their duties (sec. 62, C.C., sec. 118, title 18, U.S.C.); to assault, resist, etc., officers and others of the Customs and Internal Revenue, while engaged in the execution of their duties (sec. 65, C.C., sec. 121, title 18, U.S.C.); to assault, resist, beat, wound, etc., any officer of the United States, or other person duly authorized while serving or attempting to serve the process of any court of the United States (sec. 140, C.C., sec. 245, title 18, U.S.C.); and to assault, resist, etc., immigration officials or employees while engaged in the performance of their duties (sec. 16, Immigration Act of Feb. 5, 1917, c. 29, 39 Stat. 885, sec. 152, title 8, U.S.C.). Three of the statutes just cited impose an increased penalty when a deadly or dangerous weapon is used in resisting the officer or employee."
"The need for general legislation of the same character, for the protection of Federal officers and employees other than those specifically embraced in the statutes above cited, becomes increasingly apparent every day. The Federal Government should not be compelled to rely upon the courts of the States, however respectable and well disposed, for the protection of its investigative and law enforcement personnel; and Congress has recognized this fact at least to the extent indicated by the special acts above cited. This Department has found need for similar legislation for the adequate protection of the special agents of its division of investigation, several of whom have been assaulted in the course of a year while in the performance of their official duties."
"In these cases, resort must usually be had to the local police court, which affords but little relief to us, under the circumstances, in our effort to further the legitimate purposes of the Federal Government. It would seem to be preferable, however, instead of further extending the piecemeal legislation now on the statute books, to enact a broad general statute to embrace all proper cases, both within and outside the scope of existing legislation. Other cases in point are assaults on letter carriers, to cover which the Post Office Department has for several years past sought legislation, and the serious wounding, a couple of years ago, of the warden of the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth by escaped convicts outside the Federal jurisdiction. In the latter case, it was possible to punish the escaped convicts under Federal law for their escape, but they could not be punished under any Federal law for the shooting of the warden."
"I have the honor, therefore, to enclose herewith a copy of S. 3184, which was introduced at the request of this Department in the Seventy-second Congress, and to urge its reintroduction in the present Congress, and to express the hope that it may receive the prompt and serious consideration of your committee."
See, for the legislative history, S.Rep. No. 535, 73d Cong., 2d Sess.; H.R.Rep. No. 1455, 73d Cong., 2d Sess.; 78 Cong.Rec. 8126-8127.
This concession by the Government seems necessary in view of the lack of any indication that assault was to be treated differently, and in light of 18 U.S.C. § 111, the present recodification of § 254, which lumps assault in with the rest of the offensive actions. The statute now provides that "Whoever forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with" any designated federal officer "while engaged in or on account of the performance of his official duties" is committing a crime. The Reviser's Note indicates that this change in wording was not intended to be a substantive one.
See Burdick, Law of Crime (1946), § 342; Clark and Marshall, Law of Crimes (1958), § 10.16; Miller on Criminal Law (1934) § 99.
In view of the trial judge's recollection that "more than one shot was fired into the car in which the officers were riding . . . ," we cannot say that it is impossible that petitioner was properly convicted of more than one offense, even under the principles which govern here.
Although 58 Stat. 5, now 28 U.S.C. § 753, which provides for the recording of all proceedings in criminal cases, was enacted on January 20, 1944, Congress had not appropriated funds for the payment of court reporters at the time of the trial in June, 1944. See Richard v. United States, 148 F.2d 895; Vickers v. United States, 157 F.2d 285.
the lives of federal officers come just "as cheap by the dozen."
Nearly fourteen years ago, two federal officers were ambushed and seriously wounded by Ladner when he shot them point-blank with a shotgun as they sat in the front seat of a vehicle transporting some prisoners arrested in a raid on an illicit distillery. He was convicted of an assault on each of the officers. Ladner contends that he fired only a single charge from the shotgun, and is therefore guilty of only one offense, regardless of the number of officers assaulted.
The principal issue, as I see the case, is the procedural one under § 2255, namely whether the Court should allow this collateral attack on Ladner's sentence. This important question, both argued and briefed by the Government, is, I think, wrongly decided by the Court. These proceedings are by motion under § 2255 to correct the consecutive sentences of ten years imposed on each of Counts 2 and 3 of the indictment. Count 2 charges an assault on Officer James Buford Reed, while Count 3 charges one on Officer W. W. Frost. The record is unclear, as the Court points out, as to how many discharges of the shotgun Ladner fired into the vehicle. Hence, a determination of that issue must be made by the trial court on remand of the case.
"The motion remedy broadly covers all situations where the sentence is 'open to collateral attack.' As a remedy, it is intended to be as broad as habeas corpus."
Hayman, supra, at 342 U. S. 217. It is clear that, in enacting § 2255, Congress did not intend to enlarge the available grounds for collateral attack, but rather sought only to correct serious administrative problems that had developed in the exercise over the years of habeas corpus jurisdiction.
litigation in these criminal cases will be interminable. Wise judicial administration of the federal courts counsels against such course, at least where the error does not trench on any constitutional rights of defendants nor involve the jurisdiction of the trial court."
332 U.S. at 332 U. S. 181-182.
The history and language of § 2255 show that the same limitations are present in such proceedings, and that they are equally jurisdictional. What was enacted by Congress to solve the practical problems created by the "great increases" in habeas corpus applications today becomes the tool by which prisoners can pry open their convictions on even broader grounds than were ever permitted theretofore. It appears entirely probable that a much greater administrative problem will result than confronted the courts before the enactment of § 2255.
distinction is indicated by the Court in Prince, where it goes out of its way to point out that it was admitted by respondent that the robbery charged in Count 1 was performed immediately after the entry into the bank, charged in Count 2. The majority cannot point to a single case in this Court where collateral attack on consecutive sentences has been permitted under § 2255 when the facts were in dispute. There is none. The law has long been settled, formerly under habeas corpus and now under § 2255, to the contrary.
"intimating any view as to the availability of a collateral remedy in another case where that question is properly raised, and is adequately briefed and argued in this Court."
I find no counterpart for such a handling in our precedents. Implicit therein is the suggestion that, come another case where the point is "properly raised [and] adequately briefed and argued in this Court," [Footnote 2/3] then the conclusion will be different. Meanwhile, the Court says, Ladner is no precedent on the question of "the availability of a collateral remedy." Despite this, the Court permits its use here. This ad hoc disposition is not in keeping with good business conduct so necessary in court administration.
I do not reach the merits. The Congress, however, may correct that error of the Court. But the ad hoc manner in which it has today disposed of the case we shall have with us always -- a precedent for others to follow.
28 U.S.C. § 2255 (1952).
Though the § 2255 issue was mentioned in the Government's reply to the petition for certiorari in Bell, the question was not briefed nor argued on the merits.
The point was raised in this Court. The Government devoted four and one-half pages of its 29-page brief to it, discussing 18 separate cases. My research of the question indicates there would be little to add to the Government's discussion.

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