Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/552/108/169323/
Timestamp: 2019-08-23 13:09:36
Document Index: 97820280

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2255', '§ 4208', '§ 4208', '§ 4208', '§ 2255', '§ 4208', '§ 2255', '§ 4208', '§ 2', '§ 4208', '§ 4202', '§ 4208', '§ 4208', '§ 4208', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 590', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255']

United States of America, Appellant, v. William T. Somers et al, 552 F.2d 108 (3d Cir. 1977) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Third Circuit › 1977 › United States of America, Appellant, v. William T. Somers et al
United States of America, Appellant, v. William T. Somers et al, 552 F.2d 108 (3d Cir. 1977)
US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit - 552 F.2d 108 (3d Cir. 1977)
Argued Dec. 2, 1976. Decided Feb. 25, 1977
In United States v. Salerno, (Appeal of William Silverman), (hereinafter "Silverman I "), 538 F.2d 1005 (3d Cir. 1976), Judge Rosenn, writing for this Court, held: (1) that 28 U.S.C. § 2255 provides jurisdiction to challenge a sentence imposed under 18 U.S.C. § 4208(a) (2) prior to the adoption of the 1973 Parole Guidelines,1 when the intent of the sentencing judge is frustrated by the application of those guidelines; and (2) that because the intent of Silverman's sentencing judge was thwarted by the implementation of the guidelines, Silverman's original sentence could be modified.
. . . (P)ursuant to the provisions of Title 18 U.S.C. § 4208(a) (2), defendant to be eligible for parole at such time as the Board of Parole shall determine.
Ponzio's conviction was affirmed by this Court on May 31, 1974, United States v. Somers, 496 F.2d 723 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 832, 95 S. Ct. 56, 42 L. Ed. 2d 58 (1974).3 As noted, the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari on October 15, 1974.
Our analysis begins with, and is controlled by Silverman I and II. Silverman I, relying upon the "legislative history of section 4208(a) (2) and district court sentencing practice thereunder,"7 held that where the implementation of the guidelines frustrated the sentencing judge's probable expectation (with respect to the original sentence imposed, viewed at the time of imposition), resentencing was required.
In this case, the district court judge who originally sentenced Ponzio on May 21, 1973 to a six year term under § 4208(a) (2) not only was available to rule on Ponzio's § 2255 proceeding, but he was also able, in an unequivocal fashion, to explain his May 1973 sentencing intent and expectations.
It is true that when Ponzio was sentenced on May 21, 1973, the only indication of the sentencing judge's intent was the imposition of sentence pursuant to § 4208(a) (2). However, the very selection of that statute as a sentencing vehicle, a choice made prior in time to the promulgation of the new guidelines, is significant. Without more, it tells us that the sentencing judge implicitly expected (and indeed, provided the mechanism for) early parole eligibility, conditioned only upon the Parole Board's satisfaction with Ponzio's institutional adjustment and rehabilitation progress. Silverman I, supra ; see also Garafola v. Benson, 505 F.2d 1212, 1218 (7th Cir. 1974); Lambert v. United States, 392 F. Supp. 113, 117 n.2 (N.D. Ga. 1975). It is also true that during the Rule 35 hearing, and indeed, during the entire period between May 1973 and August 1976, no other expression of intent or expectation was voiced by the sentencing judge. It was only at the August 6, 1976 hearing in connection with Ponzio's § 2255 proceeding, that the district court judge for the first time expressly addressed the subject of his original sentencing expectations and intent.
. . . (T)he legislative history of § 4208(a) (2) is comprehensively discussed in the Salerno opinion, and there is no need to repeat that history here. Prior to the adoption of the new guidelines which are now in effect, and which became effective in late 1973, the Parole Board based its decision primarily upon institutional behavior and the probability of recidivism. See C.F.R. § 2.4 (1973). Those were the criteria which were in effect at the time this defendant was sentenced, and with which this court was familiar when sentence was imposed. It was also this court's understanding that a defendant sentenced under § 4208(a) (2) would become immediately eligible for parole after sentence had been imposed. This is in sharp contrast to the other sentencing options available to a federal judge. See 18 U.S.C. § 4202, and 18 U.S.C. § 4208(a) (1).
It was the expectation of this court when the defendant was sentenced that he would receive early meaningful consideration for parole. The adoption of the new parole guidelines subsequent to the time of sentencing has frustrated that expectation. In fact, prior to the adoption of the new parole guidelines, this court was regularly inundated with requests from defendants and their counsel for sentences under § 4208(a) (2). Such requests are no longer made, largely, we think, because of the new guidelines. Not only does the Salerno opinion provide a jurisdictional basis upon which this court may act, the judicial conscience requires corrective action.
As we read Silverman I and II, it is the intent and expectation of the district court judge who sentences under § 4208(a) (2) which are controlling and which must be searched out to determine if relief may be ordered under 28 U.S.C. § 2255.9 In our judgment, there can be no better evidence of a sentencing judge's expectations or intent than his own statement of those facts.
We are aware that here the sentencing judge not only attributed the thwarting of his sentencing intent and expectations to the operation of the Guidelines, but he also relied upon an additional list of reasons to support his order reducing Ponzio's sentence. Had the district court's action resulted solely from these latter considerations (i. e., good conduct; time served; sufficient punishment; rehabilitation; family hardship; loss of pension; deterrence, etc.) we would have been obliged to reverse its order, for it is only in the case of frustration of the district court's sentencing expectations that the Silverman doctrine affords grounds for relief (under the "collateral attack" provisions of § 2255 (see note 9, supra) ). We recognize that sentencing courts are not vested with those functions belonging to the Parole Board, D'Allesandro v. United States, 517 F.2d 429 (2d Cir. 1975), or "with (the) power(s) of a super parole board." Silverman II, supra. Hence, we will not countenance Silverman relief where the district court's basis for reducing sentence is predicated wholly upon considerations other than frustration of its original sentencing intent.
The August 6, 1976 order of the district court vacating Ponzio's original sentence and resentencing him to "the time already spent in jail" will be affirmed. The August 6, 1976 order of the district court denying the United States a stay pending appeal will be dismissed as moot. (See note 5 supra) .
Section 4208(a) (2) reads, in pertinent part:
United States v. Salerno (Silverman II) 542 F.2d 628 (3d Cir. 1976) (Sur Petition for Rehearing)
United States v. Salerno (Silverman I) 538 F.2d 1005 (3d Cir. 1976). Silverman I was filed on July 15, 1976
The order from which the government appealed was not entered in a criminal proceeding, but rather in a § 2255 proceeding. Such an action is not a proceeding in the original criminal prosecution, but is rather an independent civil suit. Heflin v. United States, 358 U.S. 415, 418 n.7, 79 S. Ct. 451, 3 L. Ed. 2d 407 (1959). Accordingly, the action, being civil in nature, is governed by the rules, statutes and appellate practice, (United States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205, 209 n.4, 72 S. Ct. 263, 96 L. Ed. 232 (1951)) controlling civil actions. See Neely v. United States, 546 F.2d 1059 at 1064-1067 (3d Cir. 1976); Wright and Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 590 (1969). See also United States v. DiRusso, 548 F.2d 372, (1st Cir. 1976) (DiRusso II)
Even the government does not contend that any reliance (if such there was) upon the Guidelines in a Rule 35 hearing would thereby "exhaust" § 2255 jurisdiction under Silverman I. The most that can be argued, granting that the district court had jurisdiction (see n.9 infra), is that the court abused its discretion in affording § 2255 relief on the same grounds as had been urged in a Rule 35 hearing. Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. 1, 83 S. Ct. 1068, 10 L. Ed. 2d 148 (1963) precludes any mechanistic application of the doctrine of res judicata in successive § 2255 proceedings. Sanders establishes those circumstances under which the district court may give weight to a prior denial of § 2255 relief. 373 U.S. at 15, 83 S. Ct. 1068. In emphasizing that the Sanders test is "the ends of justice", Justice Brennan concluded, id. at 17, 83 S. Ct. at 1078, that
The district judge also concluded and we agree that 28 U.S.C. § 2255, which provides in relevant part that a district court has jurisdiction of a motion "to vacate, set aside, or correct" a sentence imposed without jurisdiction, "in excess of the maximum authorized by law, or . . . otherwise subject to collateral attack," is an appropriate vehicle for making this claim. See Kortness v. United States, supra, 514 F.2d (167,) 170 ((8th Cir. 1975)); United States v. Perchalla, 407 F.2d 821, 823 (4th Cir. 1969). Cf. United States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205, 216-19, 72 S. Ct. 263, 96 L. Ed. 232 (1952).
We have not overlooked Ponzio's motion to dismiss the government's appeal. Ponzio had moved to dismiss the appeal and to strike certain correspondence which forwarded copies of two recent opinions. (Clinkenbeard and Jacobson, supra) bearing on the Silverman principle, on the ground that the form of the government's submission did not comply with the rules of this Court concerning filing of reply briefs. The cases submitted had been decided after all briefs were filed, and were furnished for the information of the Court and Ponzio. Apart from any other consideration requiring the denial of Ponzio's motion, we did not regard the government's submission as a "reply brief" within the purview of F.R.A.P. 28(c)