Case Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kevin Elwood KRZYSKE, Defendant-Appellant
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1988-09-21
Citations: 857 F.2d 1089
Docket Number: Nos. 85-1760, 85-1799
Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kevin Elwood KRZYSKE, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: Before MERRITT, WELLFORD and NORRIS, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 857
Pages: 1089–1095

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kevin Elwood KRZYSKE, Defendant-Appellant.
Nos. 85-1760, 85-1799.
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
Argued April 20, 1987.
Decided Sept. 21, 1988.
Josephine A. Chapman, Belleville, Mich., Aaron T. Speck (argued), Taylor, Mich., for defendant-appellant.
Karen Reynolds (argued), U.S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., Kathleen Nesi, for plaintiff-ap-pellee.
Before MERRITT, WELLFORD and NORRIS, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
ORDER
WELLFORD, Circuit Judge.
Pending before us now are a number of post-conviction motions by the appellant Krzyske. On January 5,1988, we affirmed defendant Krzyske's conviction of five counts of criminal income tax violations. See United States v. Krzyske, 836 F.2d 1013 (6th Cir.1988). He then filed a petition to rehear and for a rehearing en banc which was denied on March 9, 1988 with Judge Merritt dissenting. On March 15, Krzyske filed a motion to stay the issuance of the mandate pending an application for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. We granted a stay of 60 days on April 1, 1988. On April 13, 1988, Krzyske moved for a declaration that he was free to remain at large, despite the fact that his appeal had been resolved in favor of the government. Finally, on May 6, 1988, Krzyske filed an emergency motion for reconsideration of his case based on new evidence. These latter motions are the ones before us today.
Krzyske's principal grievance at this stage concerns bail. The trial judge sentenced Krzyske to a total term of five years imprisonment, fined him $20,000 and, pending appeal to this court, allowed him to remain on bond conditioned upon certain requirements for the "safety of others, and the community." We set aside one of the conditions as a first amendment violation, but affirmed the others. Krzyske apparently failed to meet the other requirements (to file back tax returns and to pay past due taxes), and he was placed in custody. By a subsequent order, however, we released him because we believed that he raised a substantial issue, "jury nullification," which might lead to reversal of his conviction. See 18 U.S.C. § 3143. Krzyske has remained free on bond since July 1987.
On April 6, 1988, following our affirmance of Krzyske's conviction, the government moved in the district court for revocation of defendant's bond because Krzyske's release no longer met the standard of 18 U.S.C. § 3143(b)(2). The government maintained that there no longer remained "a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in reversal or an order for a new trial even though the defendant was pursuing an application for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court." The matter was referred to a magistrate in the Eastern District of Michigan who held a hearing on April 29, 1988. The magistrate concluded that the district court retained jurisdiction over conditions of defendant's release and that there was not "a substantial likelihood that the Supreme Court would grant certio-rari," and consequently revoked the defendant's bond. Defendant was ordered to report to the Marshal's office for custody, but the revocation order was stayed for ten days pending an opportunity for Krzyske to appeal to the district court.
This prompted Krzyske's motion of April 13, 1988. In it he asked "for a redeclaration of our July 10, 1987 order" which had released him from custody pending disposition of his appeal on the merits. Krzyske argues that the magistrate's revocation of bond is "a usurpation of the jurisdiction of this court."
The magistrate relied principally upon United States v. Sullivan, 631 F.Supp. 1539 (E.D.Pa.), aff'd without opinion, 782 F.2d 1031 (3d Cir.1986), for his decision. In that decision, District Judge Katz decided affirmatively "the interesting issue of whether the District Court has jurisdiction to revoke bail after affirmance of a conviction by the Court of Appeals, but before the mandate of the appellate court is issued." 631 F.Supp. at 1540. In Sullivan, as in the instant case, defendant, who was free on bond, announced his intention to petition the Supreme Court for cer-tiorari following appellate court affirmance of his conviction for income tax evasion, and persuaded the court of appeals to stay its mandate. The decision in Sullivan was "there is jurisdiction [in the district court when] . defendant's chances of obtaining review or reversal from the Supreme Court run from slim to none," and that therefore bail could be revoked. Id. at 1540.
Judge Katz made the following observations with which we are in agreement:
The district court's authority in this matter does not stem from any lack of power on the part of the circuit court, whose jurisdiction attaches once a notice of appeal is filed. United States v. Stanley, 469 F.2d 576, 583 (D.C.Cir.1972) (and cases cited therein). Rather, the initial resolution of applications for release pending appeal have traditionally been committed to trial courts which are "the superior tribunal for the kind of information-gathering which a sound foundation for a bail ruling almost inevitably requires." Id. at 581-82; United States v. Provenzano, 605 F.2d [85,] 91 [(3d Cir.1979)].
Sullivan, 631 F.Supp. at 1541. We note a distinction in Sullivan that the defendant had not appealed from a detention order issued by the district court, as has Krzyske, but we believe the distinction is immaterial.
Sullivan relied upon United States v. Black, 543 F.2d 35 (7th Cir.1976), which also held that a district court had jurisdiction to revoke an appeal bond. In Black the defendant had appealed his conviction for making and filing a false statement. After his conviction had been affirmed, but more than two months before the mandate of the appellate court had been received in the district court, the district court decided to revoke bond because it was apparent that Black would not be successful on appeal. The Seventh Circuit observed:
The filing of a notice of appeal, although transferring jurisdiction over the case from the district court to the Court of Appeals, does not render the district judge powerless or without jurisdiction to enforce the conditions of a bond under which defendant has been released pending appeal. The court retains jurisdiction over the person of the defendant at least for the limited purposes of reviewing, altering or amending the conditions under which that court released the defendant, and is empowered to revoke or forfeit the defendant's bond during the pendency of an appeal for any of the reasons which would have supported an initial denial of the defendant's application for release. In view of the fact that, during the pendency of an appeal, facts may come to light which render it advisable for the district court to alter the conditions upon which defendant has been released, or to revoke his bond altogether, the same statute which explicitly empowers the district court to impose conditions upon release pending appeal, implicitly empowers the court to make such adjustments in those conditions as circumstances may necessitate.
Black, 543 F.2d at 37, see also United States v. Catino, 562 F.2d 1, 4 (2d Cir. 1977). This reasoning has equal force when an appellate court has previously upheld defendant's release. As circumstances may change, the district court is best equipped to respond to such changes.
We need not be overly concerned about district court usurpation of our authority when it is obvious, as here, that the factors motivating our decision to grant bail no longer exist. We are also guided in this respect by a previous decision of our court. In Jago v. United States District Court, 570 F.2d 618 (6th Cir.), aff'd, 575 F.2d 1164, cert. denied, 439 U.S. 883, 99 S.Ct. 223, 58 L.Ed.2d 196 (1978), we affirmed the action of a district judge who ordered release on bail of a state habeas corpus prisoner applicant while an appeal was pending in this court. The state was appealing the district court's previous decision declaring a state murder conviction invalid. The district court had denied the state's motion for a stay of execution of that judgment pending appeal and, significantly, this court had then entered a stay upon the state's petition. Id. at 619. Despite this court's stay of the district court's judgment pending appeal on the merits, we held the district court nevertheless retained jurisdiction over questions of custody, noting "[a] similar responsibility for custody decisions is reserved in the district court for direct criminal appeals by the express provisions of Rule 9(b), Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure." Id. at 623. This recognition of retained custodial authority of the district court in a habeas corpus action is applicable to the situation we have here, and is in accord with the result in Sullivan and Black.
A circuit judge or the Supreme Court itself may decide motions for release from custody by defendant-appellants pending disposition of appeals or of petitions for certiorari, and Fed.R.App.P. 9(b) calls for prompt decisions on such motions. See Truong Dinh Hung v. United States, 439 U.S. 1326, 99 S.Ct. 16, 58 L.Ed.2d 33 (1978); Mecom v. United States, 434 U.S. 1340, 98 S.Ct. 19, 54 L.Ed.2d 49 (1977); Harris v. United States, 404 U.S. 1232, 92 S.Ct. 10, 30 L.Ed.2d 25 (1971); United States v. Provenzano, 605 F.2d 85, 92, 93 (3d Cir.1979). Defendant Krzyske then has available to him the remedy which he has pursued by an emergency motion to this court to order his continued release on bond, and he also has available the remedy of seeking bail relief from the Supreme Court in connection with his petition for certiorari.
Our decision affirming the district court's judgment and sustaining the convictions of Krzyske on the merits, and in denying the petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc settled the chief issue of jury nullification in favor of the government. Unless or until the Supreme Court should take some action to the contrary, and statistical studies have shown slight likelihood that the Court will undertake such action on petitions for certiorari, there is no logical reason for Krzyske to remain free.
We find no basis for granting Krzyske's motion to reconsider rehearing his appeal based upon new evidence. We likewise now deny his motion staying any action on his bond pending United States Supreme Court review. We find that Krzyske has failed to meet the requisites for continued release under 18 U.S.C. § 3143. We decline his motion to declare that our prior order of July 10, 1987 has any continued effect in light of the subsequent actions taken by us on the merits of the appeal and on the several motions for bail and continued custody filed by Krzyske.
We express no opinion on the merits of any subsequent appeal by Krzyske from the most recent revocation orders of the district court or of Magistrate Pepe.
. Krzyske also filed a petition for this court to appoint an appellate counsel for him. He had been represented in his appeal to this court.
. Krzyske was known in that area of Michigan as a vocal "tax protestor," who encouraged others to join his cause.
. In our prior opinion we noted that defendant had filed a petition for certiorari challenging the conditions of release imposed and affirmed by this court.