Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/102393/kaufman-vs-united-states
Timestamp: 2018-05-28 03:56:07
Document Index: 353002170

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2241', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2243', '§ 2255', '§ 2255']

Kaufman Vs United States - Citation 102393 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Kaufman Vs. United States - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/102393
Decided On Mar-24-1969
Case Number 394 U.S. 217
Appellant Kaufman
kaufman v. united states - 394 u.s. 217 (1969) u.s. supreme court kaufman v. united states, 394 u.s. 217 (1969) kaufman v. united states no. 53 argued november 19, 1968 decided march 24, 1969 394 u.s. 217 certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the eighth circuit syllabus petitioner was tried and convicted of a federal crime. his only defense was insanity. after his conviction was upheld on appeal, petitioner sought post-conviction relief under 28 u.s.c. § 2255, and included a claim that the finding of sanity was based upon the improper admission of illegally seized evidence. the district court, after an evidentiary hearing, denied relief. petitioner's applications to the district court and the court.....
Kaufman v. United States - 394 U.S. 217 (1969)
U.S. Supreme Court Kaufman v. United States, 394 U.S. 217 (1969)
Held: A claim of unconstitutional search and seizure is cognizable in a proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Pp. 394 U. S. 221 -231.
(a) Unconstitutional restraints "may be challenged on federal habeas corpus even though imposed pursuant to the conviction of a federal court of competent jurisdiction," Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391 , 372 U. S. 409 (1963), and the same principle applies in a proceeding under § 2255, which revised the post-conviction procedure for federal prisoners but did not reduce the scope of habeas corpus relief. Pp. 394 U. S. 221 -222.
(b) Post-conviction relief for prisoners' constitutional claims is not limited by the rule that collateral review is not available to correct errors of law. P. 394 U. S. 223 .
(c) Federal post-conviction relief is available to both state and federal prisoners to protect constitutional rights relating to the criminal trial process (including the right of a defendant not to have unconstitutionally obtained evidence admitted against him at trial), and the circumstances under which a federal court must review constitutional claims of federal prisoners in a § 2255 proceeding are the same as those requiring habeas corpus review of constitutional claims of state prisoners, see Townsend v. Sain, 372 U. S. 293 , 372 U. S. 313 (1963), except that a § 2255 court need not be concerned with the adequacy of the underlying federal rules of procedure. Pp. 394 U. S. 225 -227.
(d) Considerations of finality of litigation have no greater weight with respect to federal prisoners seeking § 2255 relief than with respect to state prisoners seeking federal habeas corpus relief. P. 394 U. S. 228 .
(e) Petitioner's insanity defense, like any other defense, cannot be prejudiced by the admission of illegally seized evidence. P. 394 U. S. 230 .
The question here is whether the claim of a federal prisoner that he was convicted on evidence obtained in an unconstitutional search and seizure is cognizable in a post-conviction proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. [ Footnote 1 ]
Petitioner then filed this post-conviction proceeding under § 2255 and included a claim that the finding of sanity was based upon the improper admission of unlawfully seized evidence. [ Footnote 2 ] After an evidentiary hearing, the District Judge, who had also presided at petitioner's trial, denied relief with a written opinion. As respects the claim of unlawful search and seizure, the opinion states that:
"are not proper matters to be presented by a motion to vacate sentence under § 2255, but can only be properly presented by appeal from the conviction. [ Footnote 3 ]"
view. [ Footnote 4 ] In light of the importance of the issue in the administration of § 2255, we granted certiorari. 390 U.S. 1002 (1968). We reverse.
Common law principles initially determined the scope of the writ. Ex parte Bollman, 4 Cranch 75, 8 U. S. 93 -94 (1807). In 1867, however, the writ was extended to state prisoners, and its scope was expanded to authorize relief, both as to federal and state prisoners, in
"at the instance of the Judicial Conference [of the United States] to meet practical difficulties that had arisen in administering the habeas corpus jurisdiction of the federal courts. Nowhere in the history of Section 2255 do we find any purpose to impinge upon prisoners' rights of collateral attack upon their convictions. On the contrary, the sole purpose was to minimize the difficulties encountered in habeas corpus hearings by affording the same rights in another and more convenient forum, "
Hayman, 342 U. S. 205 , 342 U. S. 219 (1952) (italics supplied); [ Footnote 5 ]
Hill v. United States, 368 U. S. 424 , 368 U. S. 427 (1962). Thus, we may refer to our decisions respecting the availability of the federal habeas remedy in deciding the question presented in this case.
We noted in Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391 , 372 U. S. 409 (1963) that
"[t]he course of decisions of this Court . . . makes plain that restraints contrary to our fundamental law, the Constitution, may be challenged on federal habeas even though imposed pursuant to the conviction of a federal court of competent jurisdiction. [ Footnote 6 ]"
that a motion under § 2255 cannot be used in lieu of an appeal. [ Footnote 7 ] It is true that, in Sunal v. Large, 332 U. S. 174 , 332 U. S. 179 (1947), we held that
But we there recognized that federal habeas relief for constitutional claims asserted by federal prisoners is not limited by that rule. 332 U.S. at 332 U. S. 182 ; see also Hill v. United States, supra, at 368 U. S. 428 . Later, in Townsend v. Sain, 372 U. S. 293 , 372 U. S. 311 -312 (1963), we pointed out the vital distinction between the appellate and habeas functions, and concluded that habeas relief cannot be denied solely on the ground that relief should have been sought by appeal to prisoners alleging constitutional deprivations:
The Government concedes in its brief that we have already rejected this approach with respect to the availability of the federal habeas corpus remedy to state prisoners. This rejection was premised in large part on a recognition that the availability of collateral remedies is necessary to insure the integrity of proceedings at and before trial where constitutional rights are at stake. Our decisions leave no doubt that the federal habeas remedy extends to state prisoners alleging that unconstitutionally obtained evidence was admitted against them at trial. See, e.g., Mancusi v. DeForte, 392 U. S. 364 (1968); Carafas v. LaVallee, 391 U. S. 234 (1968); Warden v. Hayden, 387 U. S. 294 (1967); see also Henry v. Mississippi, 379 U. S. 443 , 379 U. S. 452 (1965). The Government argues, however, that federal post-conviction relief should not be available to federal prisoners in as broad a range of cases as that cognizable when presented by state prisoners. Support for this proposition is drawn from the fact that considerations which this Court, in Fay v. Noia, supra, deemed justifications for affording a federal forum to state prisoners -- e.g., the necessity that federal courts have the "last say" with respect to questions of federal law, the inadequacy of state procedures to raise and preserve federal claims, the concern that state judges may be unsympathetic to federally created rights, the institutional constraints on the exercise of this Court's
In Townsend v. Sain, supra, at 372 U. S. 313 , 372 U. S. 318 , we set down the circumstances under which a federal court must review constitutional claims -- including, of course, claims of illegal search and seizure -- presented by state prisoners:
Of these, only the duty of the federal habeas court to scrutinize "the factfinding procedure" under (3) does not apply in the case of a federal prisoner; federal factfinding procedures are, by hypothesis, adequate to assure the integrity of the underlying constitutional rights. Thus, when a request for relief under § 2255 asserts a claim of unconstitutional search and seizure which was tested by a motion to suppress at or before trial under Fed.Rule Crim.Proc. 41(e), the § 2255 court need not stop to review the adequacy of the procedure established by that Rule. In this respect, and in this respect only, the position of the federal prisoner does differ from that of the state prisoner. We perceive no differences between the situations of state and federal prisoners which should make allegations of the other circumstances listed in Townsend v. Sain less subject to scrutiny by a § 2255 court. [ Footnote 8 ]
The approach adopted by the court in Thornton and pressed upon us here exalts the value of finality in criminal judgments at the expense of the interest of each prisoner in the vindication of his constitutional rights. Such regard for the benefits of finality runs contrary to the most basic precepts of our system of post-conviction relief. In Fay v. Noia, supra, at 372 U. S. 424 , a case involving a state prisoner who claimed that his confession was coerced, we said that
The same view was expressed in Sanders v. United States, supra at 373 U. S. 8 , a case involving a federal prisoner:
More fundamentally, the logic of his dissent cannot be limited to the availability of post-conviction relief. It brings into question the propriety of the exclusionary rule itself. The application of that rule is not made to turn on the existence of a possibility of innocence; rather, exclusion of illegally obtained evidence is deemed necessary to protect the right of all citizens, not merely the citizen on trial, to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures. As we said in Miller v. United States, 357 U. S. 301 , 357 U. S. 313 (1958):
"There is undoubtedly a difference in the way federal courts should treat post-conviction applications by state and federal prisoners. Brown v. Allen, [344 U.S. 443, 344 U. S. 508 ], 73 S.Ct. 397 (opinion of Mr. Justice Frankfurter), interprets 28 U.S.C. § 2241 as requiring federal courts to have the 'last say' with respect to questions of federal law. Federal prisoners applying for collateral relief often have had their constitutional claims passed on by federal courts at trial or on appeal, so the Brown v. Allen rationale for federal court relitigation is inapposite. But this difference provides no basis for limiting the grounds upon which federal prisoners may obtain collateral relief, or for formulating a separate set of rules to determine when a federal prisoner's claim has adequately been adjudicated. Where a federal trial or appellate court has had a 'say' on a federal prisoner's claim, there may be no need for collateral relitigation. But what if the federal trial or appellate court said nothing because the issue was not raised? What if it is unclear whether the 'say' was on the merits? What if new law has been made or facts uncovered relating to the constitutional claim since the trial and appeal? What if the trial or appellate court based its rulings on findings of fact made after a hearing not 'full and fair' within the meaning of Townsend v. Sain, 372 U. S. 293 , 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963)?
We have not overlooked that the District Court's statement that "this matter was not assigned as error on Kaufman's appeal from conviction . . ." suggests that, in any event, failure to appeal the conviction renders the § 2255 remedy unavailable. This suggestion is contrary to our decisions that failure to take a direct appeal from conviction does not deprive a federal post-conviction court of power to adjudicate the merits of constitutional claims; the question, rather, is whether the case is one in which refusal to exercise that power would be appropriate. See Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391 , 372 U. S. 438 -440 (1963); Henry v. Mississippi, 379 U. S. 443 , 379 U. S. 451 -452 (1965).
Among the serious administrative problems under habeas corpus practice in the case of federal prisoners was that created by the requirement that the action be brought in the district of confinement, where the records of the case were often not readily available. Section 2255 changed this to require an application by motion filed in the sentencing court. See United States v. Hayman, 342 U. S. 205 , 342 U. S. 212 -219 (1952).
See, e.g., 85 U. S. 18 Wall. 163 (1874); Ex parte Wilson, 114 U. S. 417 (1885); Callan v. Wilson, 127 U. S. 540 (1888); Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U. S. 547 (1892); Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U. S. 458 (1938); Bowen v. Johnston, 306 U. S. 19 (1939); Waley v. Johnston, 316 U. S. 101 (1942); Von Moltke v. Gillies, 332 U. S. 708 (1948); see also cases collected in Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391 , 372 U. S. 409 , n. 17.
Nash v. United States, 342 F.2d 366, 367 (C.A. 5th Cir.1965). These paraphrase the statement in Sunal v. Large, 332 U. S. 174 , 332 U. S. 178 (1947), that "the writ of habeas corpus will not be allowed to do service for an appeal," but that statement was made in the context of an alleged nonconstitutional trial error. See United States v. Sobell, 314 F.2d 314, 322-323 (C.A.2d Cir.1963).
Furthermore, the § 2255 court may in a proper case deny relief to a federal prisoner who has deliberately bypassed the orderly federal procedures provided at or before trial and by way of appeal -- e.g., motion to suppress under Fed.Rule Crim.Proc. 41(e) or appeal under Fed.Rule App.Proc. 4(b). Fay v. Noia, supra, n. 3, at 372 U. S. 438 ; Henry v. Mississippi, supra, n. 3, at 379 U. S. 451 -452.
My dissent rests on my belief that not every conviction based in part on a denial of a constitutional right is subject to attack by habeas corpus or § 2255 proceedings after a conviction has become final. This conclusion is supported by the language of § 2255, which clearly suggests that not every constitutional claim is intended to be a basis for collateral relief. [ Footnote 2/1 ] And, as this Court has said in Fay v. Noia, with reference to habeas corpus,
372 U.S. 391,4 372 U. S. 38 . Of course, one important factor that would relate to whether the conviction should be vulnerable to collateral
I agree with the Court's conclusion that the scope of collateral attack is substantially the same in federal habeas corpus cases which involve challenges to state convictions, as it is in § 2255 cases which involve challenges to federal convictions. The crucial question, however, is whether certain types of claims, such as a claim to keep out relevant and trustworthy evidence because the result of an unconstitutional search and seizure, should normally be open in these collateral proceedings. This question was fully and carefully considered by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Thornton v. United States, 125 U.S.App.D.C. 114, 368 F.2d 822 (1966), and I agree substantially with the opinion of Judge Leventhal for the majority of that court, which states: [ Footnote 2/2 ]
It was formerly the rule in this country that judgments were so impervious to collateral attack that a defendant could not collaterally attack his conviction even after the Government had admitted his innocence. That rule, obviously a harsh and what might seem to most people an indefensible one, has of course now been abandoned. It was finally put to rest in Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391 (1963). It is this element of probable or possible innocence that I think should be given weight in determining whether a judgment after conviction and appeal and affirmance should be open to collateral attack, for the great historic role of the writ of habeas corpus has been to insure the reliability of the guilt-determining process. [ Footnote 2/3 ] In Fay v. Noia, Noia and his two codefendants had been convicted of felony murder in New York state court and each had been sentenced to life imprisonment. The sole evidence against each defendant was his confession. While his codefendants appealed, Noia did not, for fear that, if he secured a reversal and was reconvicted at a second trial, he would be sentenced to death. The confessions of one codefendant were subsequently found by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to have been coerced by practices which that court described as "satanic." United States ex rel. Caminito v. Murphy, 222 F.2d 698,
"Although we hold that the jurisdiction of the federal courts on habeas corpus is not affected by procedural defaults incurred by the applicant during the state court proceedings, we recognize a limited discretion in the federal judge to deny relief to an applicant under certain circumstances. Discretion is implicit in the statutory command that the judge, after granting the writ and holding a hearing of appropriate scope, 'dispose of the matter as law and justice require,' 28 U.S.C. § 2243, and discretion was the flexible concept employed by the federal courts in developing the exhaustion rule. Furthermore, habeas corpus has traditionally been regarded as governed by equitable principles. [ Footnote 2/4 ]"
"Today as always few indeed is the number of state prisoners who eventually win their freedom by means of federal habeas corpus. Those few who are ultimately successful are persons whom society has grievously wronged and for whom belated liberation is little enough compensation. [ Footnote 2/5 ]"
Although, as the Court of Appeals indicated in the Thornton case, habeas corpus has been thought of broadly as a means of securing redress for the violation of any "constitutional right," it was true until Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643 (1961), that almost every "constitutional right" referred to in this sense played a central role in assuring that the trial would be a reliable means of testing guilt. It is true that the prohibition against coerced confessions has been vigorously enforced even in the absence of proof that the confession itself was unreliable, e.g., Rogers v. Richmond, 365 U. S. 534 (1961), but even this prohibition rests to a substantial extent on recognition that all such confessions "may be and have been, to an unascertained extent, found to be untrustworthy," id. at 365 U. S. 541 .
A claim of illegal search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment is crucially different from many other constitutional rights; ordinarily the evidence seized can in no way have been rendered untrustworthy by the means of its seizure and indeed often this evidence alone establishes beyond virtually any shadow of a doubt that the defendant is guilty. A good example of such a case is one in which I filed a dissent today, Harris v. Nelson, post, p. 394 U. S. 286 . The prisoner in Harris was convicted on a charge that he had been in possession of marihuana, possession alone being a crime under state law. He later collaterally attacked that conviction, alleging that the marihuana had been unlawfully seized from his home, where he had been in illegal possession of it. He did not, and evidently could not, allege a single fact that would indicate the slightest possibility that he actually was innocent of the crime charged. Under these circumstances, it implies no disrespect for the importance of the Fourth Amendment to recognize the simple proposition that treatment of search and seizure claims should
correspond to the purpose of the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule. As the Court of Appeals said in Thornton: [ Footnote 2/6 ]
The purpose of the exclusionary rule, unlike most provisions of the Bill of Rights, does not include, even to the slightest degree, the goal of insuring that the guilt-determining process be reliable. Rather, as this Court has said time and again, the rule has one primary and overriding purpose, the deterrence of unconstitutional searches and seizures by the police. As the Court said in Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U. S. 618 , 381 U. S. 636 -637 (1965):
" Mapp had as its prime purpose the enforcement of the Fourth Amendment through the inclusion of the exclusionary rule within its rights. This, it was found, was the only effective deterrent to lawless police action. Indeed, all of the cases since Wolf [v. Colorado, 338 U. S. 25 (1949)] requiring the exclusion of illegal evidence have been based on the necessity for an effective deterrent to illegal police action."
of a mystery. Of course, the shortcomings inherent in any human system make it impossible to eliminate entirely all the incentives to conduct an illegal search. It would seem rather fanciful, however, to suggest that these inevitable incentives would be decreased to any significant extent by the fact that, if a conviction is obtained, after adequate opportunities have been provided to litigate constitutional claims, and if this conviction is upheld by all the reviewing courts, the validity of the search and seizure may later be questioned in a collateral proceeding. Understandably, the Court does not make any such suggestion, and indeed makes no effort to justify its result in terms of the long-recognized deterrent purpose of the exclusionary rule. The Court instead simply provides us with a string of citations that supposedly settle the question, at least as to state convictions, ante at 394 U. S. 225 , but the Court neglects to mention that not one of the cases it cites contains a single intimation that the issue before us now was even considered. [ Footnote 2/7 ]
Ante at 394 U. S. 228 . This astonishing statement is directly contrary to the principles this Court has consistently applied on this subject, as, for example, in Elkins v. United States, 364 U. S. 206 , 364 U. S. 217 (1960), where we said:
381 U.S. at 381 U. S. 637 .
The Court's consistent adherence to this approach has continued through all of the various "retroactivity" cases, including today's decision in Desist v. United States, post, p. 394 U. S. 244 , in which the Court emphasizes, quoting from Linkletter, that " [t]he misconduct of the police . . . has already occurred, and will not be corrected by releasing the prisoners involved,'" and that "the exclusionary rule is but a `procedural weapon that has no bearing on guilt.'" It would be hard to find a more apt summary of this Court's holdings in these "retroactivity" cases than the statement that they "exal[t] the value of finality in criminal judgments at the expense of the interest of each prisoner in the vindication of his constitutional rights." But since this is the course the Court has chosen to steer, I think it would not be amiss to suggest that the Court at least decide this case on the same principles, and seek to achieve a modest semblance of consistency. Instead the Court adopts a rule that offers no discernible benefits in enforcing the Fourth Amendment and insures that prisoners who are undoubtedly guilty will be set free.
the guilty is desirable, other things being equal. One commentator, who attempted in vain to dissuade this Court from today's holding, thought it necessary to point out that there is "a strong public interest in convicting the guilty." [ Footnote 2/8 ] Indeed, the day may soon come when the ever-cautious law reviews will actually be forced to offer the timid and uncertain contention, recently suggested satirically, that "crime may be thought socially undesirable, and its control a valid governmental objective' to which the criminal law is `rationally related." [ Footnote 2/9 ]
I cannot agree to a rule, however technical it may seem, that leads to these results. I would not let any criminal conviction become invulnerable to collateral attack where there is left remaining the probability or possibility that constitutional commands related to the integrity of the factfinding process have been violated. In such situations, society has failed to perform its obligation to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime. But it is quite a different thing to permit collateral attack on a conviction after a trial according to due process when the defendant clearly is, by the proof and by his own admission, guilty of the crime charged. There may, of course, as the Court of Appeals held in the Thornton case, be some special circumstances in which allowance of a Fourth Amendment claim in a collateral proceeding would be justified in terms of the relevant and applicable constitutional principles. Some of the situations possibly falling in this category have been enumerated and examined by others, [ Footnote 2/10 ] and there are circumstances alleged here that might lead
to such a disposition of this case. [ Footnote 2/11 ] But the Court does not rest its judgment on this narrow ground, and I therefore do not attempt to pass on it. I do contend, however, that the court below was right in refusing to follow the broad rule that this Court is announcing today. In collateral attacks, whether by habeas corpus or by § 2255 proceedings, I would always require that the convicted defendant raise the kind of constitutional claim that casts some shadow of a doubt on his guilt. This defendant is permitted to attack his conviction collaterally although he conceded at the trial and does not now deny that he had robbed the savings and loan association and although the evidence makes absolutely clear that he knew what he was doing. Thus, his guilt being certain, surely he does not have a constitutional right to get a new trial. I cannot possibly agree with the Court.
372 U. S. 391 , 372 U. S. 438 .
Id. at 372 U. S. 440 -441.
Petitioner's allegations suggest that he may have been unjustifiably frustrated in his efforts to raise the search and seizure issue on direct appeal from his conviction. See the Court's opinion, ante at 394 U. S. 220 , n. 3.
I concur in much of my Brother BLACK's opinion, and agree with his conclusion that 28 U.S.C. § 2255 should be available to contest the admission of evidence allegedly seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment only under limited and special circumstances of the sort suggested in Thornton v. United States, 125 U.S.App.D.C. 114, 368 F.2d 822 (1966). I must, however, disassociate myself from any implications, see, e.g., ante at 394 U. S. 232 -233, 394 U. S. 234 -236, that the availability of this collateral remedy turns on a petitioner's assertion that he was in fact, innocent, or on the substantiality of such an allegation.
* See my dissent in Gardner v. California, 393 U. S. 367 , 393 U. S. 371 (1969).