Task: songer_casetyp1_1-3-1

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Your task is to identify the issue in the case, that is, the social and/or political context of the litigation in which more purely legal issues are argued. Put somewhat differently, this field identifies the nature of the conflict between the litigants. The focus here is on the subject matter of the controversy rather than its legal basis.
Your task is to determine the specific issue in the case within the broad category of "criminal - federal offense". 

JAMES C. HILL, Circuit Judge:
In No. 78-2508 the Government petitions for a writ of mandamus ordering the District Court to correct allegedly illegal sentences entered in this action on May 19, 1978. In No. 78-2102 the Government has filed a notice of appeal in an effort to challenge the same allegedly illegal sentences through the alternative procedure of a direct appeal. The substantive issue presented is whether 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651 authorizes a suspended sentence and probation for a conviction under 18 U.S.C.A. § 241 in a case in which the victim of the constitutional deprivation was killed. The procedural issue presented is whether a direct appeal or a petition for a writ of mandamus is the appropriate vehicle for the Government to challenge the sentences. After careful consideration of the record, the litigants’ briefs, the briefs of amici curiae, the litigants’ oral arguments, and the applicable law, we dismiss the appeal as improper and deny the petition for a writ of mandamus.
I.
We need not recount the evidence of this horrible crime adduced at this trial or at the prior state proceedings, since the issues presented here are legal and procedural. The relevant procedural history which we need consider to resolve the issues before us is not disputed. On October 20, 1977, a federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment charging former Houston police officers Terry Wayne Denson, Stephen Orlando, Joseph James Janish, and Louis Glenn Kinney with violations of 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 241, 242, and 371. Count One of the indictment charged Denson, Orlando, Janish, and Kinney with conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate Joe Luna Torres, Jr., in the free exercise of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 241. Count One averred that on May 6, 1977, Janish, Denson, Kinney, and Orlando struck Torres while he was handcuffed, and that Denson pushed Torres into the Buffalo Bayou in Houston. This Count further alleged that the conspiracy resulted in Torres’ death. Count Two of the indictment charged that Denson, Orlando, Janish, and Kinney, while acting under color of law, willfully struck Torres, thereby depriving him of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 242. Count Three alleged that Denson, aided and abetted by Orlando, Janish, and Kinney, willfully assaulted Torres by pushing him into the Buffalo Bayou, thereby depriving him of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 2 and 242. Count Three further asserted that this act resulted in Torres’ death. Count Four charged that Denson, Orlando, and Kinney conspired to violate 18 U.S.C.A. § 1510 by preventing one Carless E. Elliott from communicating information about violations of 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 241 and 242 to an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 371. On October 28, 1977, the Defendants entered pleas of not guilty to the charges against them. A jury trial commenced on January 23, 1978. On January 31, 1978, the District Court granted defendant Kinney’s motion for a severance. On February 8, 1978, the jury found Defendants Denson, Orlando, and Janish guilty on Counts One and Two of the indictment and not guilty on Counts Three and Four.
Sentencing was held on March 28, 1978. On Count One of the indictment, the District Court sentenced each Defendant to ten years’ imprisonment, suspended execution of that sentence, and ordered the Defendants placed on supervised probation for five years. On Count Two, the District Court sentenced each Defendant to one year’s imprisonment. The District Court ordered the sentences on Counts One and Two to be served consecutively. After the sentence was announced, the following exchange took place between counsel for the United States and the District Court:
Mr. McDonald: If I may be heard, there is some question about whether or not a probated sentence—
The Court: I have resolved that question to my own satisfaction.
We will be in recess.
On April 5, 1978, the Government filed a motion to correct sentence. In this motion, the Government contended that the District Court’s orders suspending execution of its ten-year sentences and placing the Defendants on probation exceeded its authority under 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651. The Defendants filed a response to the Government’s motion on April 11, 1978. In its memorandum and order dated April 17, 1978, the District Court denied the Government’s motion. The District Court’s reasoning is set forth in the following paragraph taken from its opinion:
The language ‘imprisonment (or imprisoned) for any term of years or for life’ in 18 U.S.C. § 241 is identical to the language in 18 U.S.C. § 1111 (defining second degree murder), id. § 2031 (defining rape), and id. § 1201 (defining kidnapping). The Administrative Office of the United States Courts reports that, nationwide, 4 convicted of second degree murder, 33 convicted of rape, and 6 convicted of kidnapping in 1977 received probation. Annual Report of the Director, Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 1977. In 1976, those receiving probation after conviction of these offenses were 2 (second degree murder), 20 (rape), and 5 (kidnapping), id, 1976. In 1975, the numbers were 3 (second degree murder), 28 (rape), and 10 (kidnapping). Id., 1975. Thus throughout the nation, the Federal Judiciary has interpreted the language ‘imprisonment (or imprisoned) for any term of years or for life’ to be consistent with the language of 18 U.S.C. § 3651 authorizing the granting of probation. Probation is prohibited when a punishment of death or life imprisonment is mandatory. See United States v. Woods, 484 F.2d 127, 139 (4th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 979, 94 S.Ct. 1566, 39 L.Ed.2d 875.
On May 17, 1978, the Government filed a notice of appeal from the April 17, 1978, order denying its motion to correct sentence. The notice of appeal indicated that the Government also intended to seek relief by way of a writ of mandamus.
On May 19, 1978, the District Court entered Judgment and Probation/Commitment Orders for Defendants Denson, Orlando, and Janish. These Orders effectuated the sentences which had been announced from the bench on March 28, 1978. The District Court also issued a second memorandum and order, the asserted purpose of which was
to set forth upon the record the reasons which stem from the unprecedented procedural posture of this case, for the order, which is a part hereof, staying, to the extent that this court has power to stay, the running of all time periods pertaining to an appeal on the merits in this case until such time as the question of the validity of the sentence of this court has been finally determined.
In this Memorandum and Order, the District Court set forth an additional basis for the sentences it had imposed. After summarizing the procedures followed and the arguments of the litigants, the District Court stated:
In an attempt to depoliticize what has become an almost intolerable situation of attempts to interfere with the independence of the court, this court has not heretofore articulated the most cogent reason for the sentences imposed. That reason is that the Government entered into a plea agreement with one of the former police officers not on trial in this case that if he would testify against those on trial here, he would be permitted to plead guilty to the same actions upon which the jury found these Defendants guilty under a different statute carrying a maximum penalty of one years’ [sic] imprisonment and further that in his case the Government would recommend probation.
On May 23, 1978, the Government filed an amended notice of appeal from the order denying its motion to correct sentence and from the orders of probation entered on May 19, 1978. On May 30, 1978, Defendants Denson, Orlando, and Janish filed notices of appeal from the judgments entered against them. On July 14, 1978, the Government filed its petition for a writ of mandamus. This Court stayed the Defendants’ appeal pending the outcome of the Government’s attacks on the sentences.
II.
We first consider whether 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651 authorizes a suspended sentence and probation for these convictions under 18 U.S.C.A. § 241.
A.
Section 3651 authorizes federal courts to suspend imposition or execution of sentences only “[u]pon entering a judgment of conviction of any offense not punishable by death or life imprisonment.” Webster’s Third International Dictionary (16th ed. 1971) and Black’s Law Dictionary (Rev. 4th ed. 1968) both define “punishable” as meaning deserving of, liable of, or capable of being punished by law or right. See also Annotation, 35A Words and Phrases 171 (1963). The ordinary plain meaning of Section 3651, then, is that federal courts are without authority to suspend the imposition or execution of punishment and to grant probation to defendants, such as these Defendants, who are convicted of offenses for which death or life imprisonment may be imposed as a sentence.
The meaning of the phrase “any offense not punishable by death or life imprisonment” in Section 3651, in our view, “is so self-evident that it hardly admits of argument.” United States v. Watkinds, 6 F. 152, 161 (C.C.D.Or.1881). This case is appropriate for application of the, “plain meaning” rule of statutory interpretation— “a most basic principle of statutory construction.” Tidewater Oil Co. v. United States, 409 U.S. 151, 178, 93 S.Ct. 408, 424, 34 L.Ed.2d 375 (1972) (Stewart, J., dissenting). The United States Supreme Court explained this rule in one of its early cases:
Where there is no ambiguity in the words, there is no room for construction. The case must be a strong one, indeed, which would justify a court in departing from the plain meaning of words. in search of an intention which the words themselves did not suggest.
United States v. Wiltberger, 18 U.S. 76, 96, 5 Wheat. 76, 5 L.Ed. 37 (1920). See generally Raven v. Panama Canal Co., 583 F.2d 169 (5th Cir. 1978); Barbee v. United States, 392 F.2d 532 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 391 U.S. 935, 88 S.Ct. 1849, 20 L.Ed.2d 855 (1968). More recently, the Supreme Court has said of this rule: “[tjhere is, of course, no more persuasive evidence of the purpose of a statute than the words by which the legislature undertook to give expression to its wishes.” Perry v. Commerce Loan Co., 383 U.S. 392, 400, 86 S.Ct. 852, 857, 15 L.Ed.2d 827 (1966), quoting, United States v. American Trucking Assns., 310 U.S. 534, 543, 60 S.Ct. 534, 84 L.Ed. 1345 (1940). We believe that the District Court has “depart[ed] from the plain meaning of [the] words [of Section 3651] in search of an intention which the words themselves [do] not suggest.” United States v. Wiltberger, 18 U.S. at 96. We further believe that there is no ambiguity in the language of the statute that would justify such a departure. Nor do we find anything in the legislative history of the statute or in the general theory of probation which would warrant disregarding the natural meaning of the statutory language.
There is nothing in the legislative history of Section 3651 to suggest that its plain meaning is to be disregarded. For many years there were no federal statutes governing probation. Federal courts frequently “exercised a form of probation either by suspending sentence or by placing the defendants under state probation officers or volunteers.” United States v. Murray, 275 U.S. 347, 354, 48 S.Ct. 146, 148, 72 L.Ed. 309 (1928). However, in Ex parte United States, 242 U.S. 27, 37 S.Ct. 72, 61 L.Ed. 129 (1916) (the “Killitts” case), the Supreme Court held that federal courts had no authority to suspend sentence. In response to this decision, Congress in 1925 passed the Federal Probation Act, 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 3651-3656.
The purpose of the Act was explained in United States v. Murray, 275 U.S. at 357-358, 48 S.Ct. at 149:
The great desideratum was the giving to young and new violators of law a chance to reform and to escape the contaminating influence of association with hardened or veteran criminals in the beginning of the imprisonment. Experience has shown that there was a real locus poenitentiae between the conviction and certainty of punishment, on the one hand, and the actual imprisonment and public disgrace of incarceration and evil association on the other. If the case was a proper one, great good could be done in stopping punishment by putting the new criminal on probation. The avoidance of imprisonment at time of sentence was therefore the period to which the advocates of a Probation Act always directed their urgency. Probation was not sought to shorten the term. Probation is the attempted saving of a man who has taken one wrong step, and whom the judge thinks to be a brand who can be plucked from the burning at the time of the imposition of the sentence.
The legislative history of the Federal Probation Act is extensive. See, e. g., 54 Cong.Rec. 3637, 4373 (1917); 65 Cong.Rec. 9188, 11076-11078 (1924); 66 Cong.Rec. 5199-5201, 5204-5205 (1925); H.R.Rep.No. 423, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. (1924); H.R.Rep. No.1377, 68th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1925); Hearing on S. 1092 before a Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 64th Cong., 1st Sess. (1916); Hearing on S. 1042 and S. 1729 before a Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. (1924). This legislative record is discussed in great detail in Roberts v. United States, 320 U.S. 264, 268-270, 64 S.Ct. 113, 88 L.Ed. 41 (1943), and in United States v. Murray, 275 U.S. at 354-355, 48 S.Ct. 146, which need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say that our study of these legislative materials and of the judicial decisions considering them reveals nothing warranting an interpretation of Section 3651 differing from its natural meaning.
The legislative records appear to be of limited usefulness because no direct express statements concerning the phrase in question were made. During the legislative debates, only two references were made to the provision in the bill limiting the probationary powers of the federal courts to cases in which the defendants were convicted of crimes “not punishable by death or life imprisonment.” During the House debates, Representative Hersey commented that the bill “does not apply to death sentences or life imprisonment.” 65 Cong.Rec. 11076 (1924). And Representative Woodrum observed:
[t]his bill goes further than any law I have seen in a State court. It has no limitation whatever on the age, gravity of the offense — except it must not be punished with death — or the number of times that the defendant may have been before that or some other court for violation of the laws of the United States.
66 Cong.Reg. 5205 (1925). Neither of these remarks is an attempt to define the phrase “not punishable by death or life imprisonment.” Rather these remarks are shorthand, imprecise ways of referring to the statutory exception. Neither remark warrants disregarding the plain meaning of the statutory language.
In addition, in amending Section 3651 in 1948, 1958, 1970, and 1972, Congress made no suggestion that it should be given a different interpretation. See H.R.Rep.No. 304, 80th. Cong., 1st Sess., at A173-A174 (1947); P.L. 85-463, reprinted in [1958] U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 258, 2689-2691; P.L. 85-741, reprinted in [1958] U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 976-977, 3841-3843; P.L. 91-492, reprinted in [1970] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 1270-1271, 4324 — 4331; P.L. 92-293, reprinted in [1972] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 166-167, 2257-2263.
The current revision of the Criminal Code Reform Act of 1977 (S. 1437) is further indication that Section 3651 means what it says. Section 2101 of that bill would authorize the imposition of a sentence to a term of probation in all cases, unless the case involves a “Class A felony,” or an offense for which probation has been expressly precluded, or the defendant is sentenced at the same time to a term of imprisonment for the same or a different offense. The accompanying Senate Report provides that “subsection (a)(1) excludes Class A felony offenders from receiving a sentence of probation, thus excluding, as does current law, those offenders subject to a penalty of life imprisonment or death.” S.Rep.95-905, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 899 (1977) (emphasis added).
Nor do the basic principles underlying a sentence to probation require this Court to reject the plain meaning of Section 3651. The purpose of probation, as defined by the Supreme Court in Roberts v. United States, 320 U.S. at 272, 64 S.Ct. at 117, is
to provide an individualized program offering a young or unhardened offender an opportunity to rehabilitate himself without institutional confinement under the tutelage of a probation official and under the continuing power of the court to impose the institutional punishment for his original offense in the event that he abuse this opportunity.
See also generally United States v. Murray, 275 U.S. 347, 48 S.Ct. 146, 72 L.Ed. 309 (1928). Because probation is “an authorized mode of mild and ambulatory punishment,” it is an inadequate sentence for the more serious criminal offenses. It was appropriate for Congress to authorize the federal courts to order probation only for those convicted of the less serious crimes, and it was reasonable for Congress to draw the line at those few offenses subject to a maximum punishment of death or life imprisonment.
The legislative history of the 1968 amendment to 18 U.S.C.A. § 241 increasing its maximum punishment to life imprisonment in death cases indicates that Congress did not intend the federal courts to grant probation in such cases. Before 1968, the maximum punishment for a violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 241 was 10 years’ imprisonment and a $5,000 fine, even if death resulted. In that year Congress amended both 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 241 and 242 to provide for a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for violations resulting in death. See Pub.L. 90-284, reprinted in [1968] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 89-111, 1837-1867. The legislative history of these amendments indicates congressional dissatisfaction with maximum sentences of 10 years’ imprisonment for violations of 18 U.S.C.A. § 241 resulting in death. The Senate Report provides:
[t]he maximum penalties [of 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242] are inadequate for cases in which bodily injury or death has occurred. Section 241 provides a maximum penalty of a $5,000 fine or a 10-year prison sentence or both..
The penalties prescribed in the bill are graduated in accordance with the seriousness of the results of violations, ranging from misdemeanor penalties when no one is harmed, to $10,000 fines and 10 years imprisonment when there is physical injury, and life imprisonment when death occurs.
S.Rep.No.721, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 6 (1967), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, [1968], p. 1841. During the Senate debate, Senator Hart stated:
H.R. 2516 increases the maximum penalties for violation of 18 United States Code 241 and 242. Currently the maximum penalties under these two sections are too lenient where a death has occurred.
114 Cong.Rec. 318 (1968). See also 114 Cong.Rec. 9590 (1968) (Remarks of Rep. Ryan); 113 Cong.Rec. 22772 (1967) (remarks of Rep. Gilbert); 114 Cong.Rec. 669 (1968) (remarks of Sen. Scott). After the 1968 amendment, all defendants convicted of a violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 241 resulting in death, except those in the present case, received sentences of life imprisonment. See United States v. Guillette, 547 F.2d 743 (2d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 839, 98 S.Ct. 132, 54 L.Ed.2d 102 (1977) (sentences for two of three defendants reduced to 25 years’ imprisonment on retrial); United States v. Harvey, 526 F.2d 529 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 956, 96 S.Ct. 1432, 47 L.Ed.2d 362 (1976); United States v. Robinson, 503 F.2d 208 (7th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 949, 95 S.Ct. 1333, 43 L.Ed.2d 427 (1975); United States v. Pacelli, 491 F.2d 1108 (2d Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 826, 95 S.Ct. 43, 42 L.Ed.2d 49 (1974).
Finally, the weight of relevant judicial authority supports our construction of Section 3651. Our research has revealed only one case, State v. Taylor, 151 Fla. 296, 9 So.2d 708 (1942) (en banc), in which a court was presented with the precise question at issue here. The Taylor case involved a state statute which, like Section 3651, authorized a trial court to grant probation to a defendant except in the case of an offense “punishable by death or life imprisonment.” The Florida Supreme Court concluded: “[t]he word ‘punishable’ may be defined as ‘capable of being punished by law or right.’ ” Id. at 708. The Florida court held that under the statute a trial court could not grant probation to a person convicted of second degree murder — an offense for which a term of life imprisonment could be imposed under state law — even though a lesser term of incarceration was allowable. See also United States v. Remling, 548 F.2d 1274 (6th Cir. 1977); Coon v. United States, 360 F.2d 550 (8th Cir. 1966); The Thrasher, 173 F. 258 (9th Cir. 1909); United States v. Carubia, 377 F.Supp. 1099 (E.D.N.Y.1974); United States v. Watkinds, 6 F. 152 (C.C.D.Or.1881). See generally Annotation, 35A Words and Phrases 171-73 (1963) and cases cited.
Taylor, then, is directly contrary to the ruling of the District Court in the present case. That case is particularly persuasive because “[wjhen Congress passed the Probation Law... it must be understood to have intended the system so established to be construed in the same sense as it had been in the states from which it was borrowed.” United States v. Lecato, 29 F.2d 694, 695 (2d Cir. 1928) (Hand, J.), quoted with approval in Birnbaum v. United States, 107 F.2d 885, 887 (4th Cir. 1939). Cf. Metropolitan Railroad Co. v. Moore, 121 U.S. 558, 572, 75 S.Ct. 1334, 30 L.Ed. 1022 (1887).
Federal courts have attributed this meaning to the word “punishable” in somewhat analogous contexts. For example, in In re Mills, 135 U.S. 263, 10 S.Ct. 762, 34 L.Ed. 107 (1890); the Supreme Court considered a federal statute that established a United States court in the Indian Territory having jurisdiction over all offenses “not punishable by death or by imprisonment at hard labor.” The Supreme Court concluded that “the words, ‘punishable... by imprisonment at hard labor,’ in the act. embrace offenses which, although not imperatively required by statute to be so punished, may, in the discretion of the court, be punished by imprisonment in a penitentiary.” Id. at 268, 10 S.Ct. at 764. A similar interpretation has been afforded the phrase “punishable by death or life imprisonment” in the Juvenile Delinquency Act, 18 U.S. C.A. § 5031. See, e. g., United States v. Quinones, 353 F.Supp. 1325, 1327 (D.P.R. 1973), aff’d, 516 F.2d 1309 (1st Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 852, 96 S.Ct. 97, 46 L.Ed.2d 76 (1975). In Coon v. United States, 360 F.2d 550 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 873, 87 S.Ct. 145, 17 L.Ed.2d 100 (1966), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held a federal statute which provided that “an indictment for any offense punishable by death may be found at any time without limitation” encompassed any offense for which the death penalty may be imposed.
The District Court rejected the plain meaning of Section 3651 and adopted an interpretation that is supported by neither legal authority nor the practice in the federal judicial system. The District Court held that under Section 3651, “[pjrobation is prohibited when a punishment of death or life imprisonment is mandatory ” (emphasis in the original). The only legal authority cited by the District Court in support of its interpretation of Section 3651 is United States v. Woods, 484 F.2d 127 (4th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 979, 94 S.Ct. 1566, 39 L.Ed.2d 875 (1974). Woods does not support the proposition for which it was cited. The defendant in Woods was convicted of first degree murder under 18 U.S.C.A. § 1111. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that she could not be sentenced pursuant to 18 U.S.C.A. § 4208(a)(2), now 18 U.S.C.A. § 4205(b)(2), under which she would be eligible for parole at any time a parole board might determine. By its terms, Section 4208(a)(2) did not apply to any offense for which a mandatory penalty was provided. The Court of Appeals held that because a life sentence under 18 U.S.C.A. § 1111 is mandatory, the District Court was without authority to impose a sentence under Section 4208.
Woods dealt with 18 U.S.C.A. § 4208(a)(2); the case had nothing to do with 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651. From its citation to page 139 of the Woods opinion, the District Court here apparently relied upon the following statement in that opinion relating to 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651: “We note that 18 U.S.C. § 3651 prohibits either probation or a suspended sentence for crimes punishable by life imprisonment, such as first degree murder....” We believe that this language is entirely consistent with our construction of Section 3651. It does not support the proposition that probation is prohibited only for those convicted of a crime for which a life sentence is the mandatory punishment. The Court of Appeals was simply listing first degree murder as one of those crimes punishable by life imprisonment. In any event, this language is merely obiter dictum. We believe that the Woods case actually undermines the District Court’s interpretation of Section 3651, because it demonstrates that when Congress wants to withhold certain sentencing benefits only from those convicted of crimes with mandatory sentences, it does so explicitly.
Apparently, only one court, the Supreme Court of Colorado, has interpreted the word “punishable” in the same fashion as the District Court here. See Jaramillo v. District Court, 480 P.2d 841 (Colo.1971) (en banc). The defendant in Jaramillo, a 17-year-old youth, was charged with aggravated robbery, an offense carrying a possible punishment of “not less than four years, or for life.” The Colorado Supreme Court considered the applicability of a state statute providing that any person under eighteen years of age who commits a felony shall be treated as a delinquent child, except for crimes of violence “punishable by death or life imprisonment.” It ruled that the juvenile court had exclusive jurisdiction over this offense. The court stated that it had studied and “puzzled” over what it thought were all the applicable authorities and had found itself “as much in the dark as to the legislative intent as when [it] commenced.” Id. at 842. The court concluded that “ ‘punishable by death or life imprisonment’ does not embrace offenses which have a sentence of less than life imprisonment as a minimum and a maximum of either life imprisonment or death.” Id. at 843. In reaching its decision, the court in Jaramillo failed to include among the authorities cited People v. Godding, 55 Colo. 579, 136 P. 1011 (1913) (en banc), which interpreted an article of the Colorado Constitution defining the term “felony” to mean any criminal offense punishable by death or imprisonment in the penitentiary. The Court in Godding held that “punishable” meant “liable to punishment” or “which may be punished,” and not “absolutely punishable.” Thus, the court ruled, any offense which may be punished by imprisonment in a penitentiary is a “felony,” even though in the discretion of the court a lighter sentence might be imposed.
We cannot resolve this case on the basis of the Jaramillo decision. Except for the decision of the District Court, it stands alone, against the great weight of authority, in its interpretation of the word “punishable.” And it deals with the jurisdiction of a juvenile court, not with probation. Finally, it appears to be inconsistent with the earlier Godding decision. But see Maddox v. People, 178 Colo. 366, 497 P.2d 1263, 1264 (1973).
The District Court also relied upon statistics derived from recent Annual Reports of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. These statistics, according to the District Court, showed that in 1975, 1976, and 1977, probation was granted to 111 defendants convicted of second degree murder (18 U.S.C.A. § 1111), rape (18 U.S.C.A. § 2081), and kidnaping (18 U.S.C.A. § 1201), violations of which are punishable by imprisonment for any term of years or for life. The District Court concluded these statistics showed that “throughout the nation, the Federal Judiciary has interpreted the language ‘imprisonment (or imprisoned) for any term of years or for life’ to be consistent with the language of 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651 authorizing the granting of probation.” We cannot agree. In the first place, evidence of judicial practice is not controlling as a matter of law. The Supreme Court established long ago that federal courts could not, by practice, affect their authority to grant probation. Ex parte United States, 242 U.S. 27, 50-53, 37 S.Ct. 72, 61 L.Ed. 129 (1916). Secondly, these statistics fail to demonstrate a general practice among the federal courts of granting probation to defendants convicted of offenses punishable by death or life imprisonment. Of the 111 defendants assertedly charged with second degree murder, rape, or kidnaping for the years in question, 37 were sentenced under the Juvenile Delinquency Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 5301 et seq. and 25 were sentenced under the Youth Corrections Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 5005 et seq. The authority of federal courts to grant probation pursuant to these statutes is in addition to their authority under 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651. The specific sentencing procedures of these Acts take precedence over the general limitation on the use of probation in 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651. See Radzanower v. Touche Ross & Co., 426 U.S. 148, 153, 96 S.Ct. 1989, 48 L.Ed.2d 540 (1976); Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535, 550-551, 94 S.Ct. 2474, 41 L.Ed.2d 290 (1974); Bulova Watch Co. Inc., v. United States, 365 U.S. 753, 758, 81 S.Ct. 864, 6 L.Ed.2d 72 (1961).
Of the remaining 49 defendants, 45 were convicted of related offenses not punishable by life imprisonment or death. Thus, all but four of the 111 defendants given probation were either found guilty of an offense not punishable by life imprisonment or death or were sentenced under the special sentencing procedures of the Juvenile Delinquency Act or the Youth Corrections Act. The fact that in the years 1975, 1976, and 1977, four defendants convicted of federal crimes punishable by life imprisonment were given probation, purportedly under 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651, is hardly evidence of a general practice among federal courts. The Government has informed us that three of these four defendants were women with mental problems who were convicted of kidnapping and that the fourth defendant was an American Indian charged with second degree murder on an Indian reservation. In none of these four cases was 18 U.S.C.A. § 3651 actually raised as an objection to probation.
The final justification advanced by the District Court in support of its sentences to probation is the plea arrangement entered into by the Government with a former Houston police officer involved in the death of Joe Luna Torres, Jr. In exchange for his testimony the Government agreed to allow this officer to plead to a misdemeanor offense of conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C.A. § 242 and to recommend that he be placed on probation. But the District Court was not authorized by Section 3651 to grant probation to these Defendants, and no plea arrangement entered into by the United States could justify placing them on probation. It is inappropriate for the sentencing court to attempt to harmonize the fate of convicted defendants with the fate of witnesses with whom the Government has struck a bargain. The executive has the

Question: What is the specific issue in the case within the general category of "criminal - federal offense"?
A. murder
B. rape
C. arson
D. aggravated assault
E. robbery
F. burglary
G. auto theft
H. larceny (over $50)
I. other violent crimes
J. narcotics
K. alcohol related crimes, prohibition
L. tax fraud
M. firearm violations
N. morals charges (e.g., gambling, prostitution, obscenity)
O. criminal violations of government regulations of business
P. other white collar crime (involving no force or threat of force; e.g., embezzlement, computer fraud,bribery)
Q. other crimes
R. federal offense, but specific crime not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: A