Task: songer_jurisdiction

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals. You will be asked a question pertaining to some threshold issue at the trial court level. These issues are only considered to be present if the court of appeals is reviewing whether or not the litigants should properly have been allowed to get a trial court decision on the merits. That is, the issue is whether or not the issue crossed properly the threshhold to get on the district court agenda. The issue is: "Did the court determine that it had jurisdiction to hear this case?" Answer the question based on the directionality of the appeals court decision. If the court discussed the issue in its opinion and answered the related question in the affirmative, answer "Yes". If the issue was discussed and the opinion answered the question negatively, answer "No". If the opinion considered the question but gave a mixed answer, supporting the respondent in part and supporting the appellant in part, answer "Mixed answer". If the opinion does not discuss the issue, or notes that a particular issue was raised by one of the litigants but the court dismissed the issue as frivolous or trivial or not worthy of discussion for some other reason, answer "Issue not discussed". If the opinion considered the question but gave a "mixed" answer, supporting the respondent in part and supporting the appellant in part (or if two issues treated separately by the court both fell within the area covered by one question and the court answered one question affirmatively and one negatively), answer "Mixed answer". If the opinion either did not consider or discuss the issue at all or if the opinion indicates that this issue was not worthy of consideration by the court of appeals even though it was discussed by the lower court or was raised in one of the briefs, answer "Issue not discussed".If the opinion discusses challenges to the jurisdiction of the court to hear several different issues and the court ruled that it had jurisdiction to hear some of the issues but did not have jurisdiction to hear other issues, answer "Mixed answer". 

PER CURIAM:
In a trial by a magistrate, defendant was found guilty of violating a traffic regulation applicable to Washington National Airport. He was not represented by counsel. His request for the appointment of counsel, supported by his assertion of indigency, was denied on the ground that it was unlikely that a jail sentence would be imposed in the event that defendant was found guilty. Upon finding him guilty, the magistrate sentenced the defendant to five days in jail with execution of the jail term suspended and with defendant placed on unsupervised probation for twelve months on condition that he not violate any federal motor vehicle laws during the probation period. Defendant appealed to the district court, and from its judgment adverse to him, he appeals to us.
Before us, defendant contends that he had a right to counsel because a jail sentence, the service of which was suspended, was imposed on him, that he did not waive his right to counsel, that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his conviction and that the charging documents failed to allege a violation of law on his part.
The sentence was imposed on January 6, 1982, and was fully served by the date on which this appeal was reached for argument. Defendant successfully completed the period of probation without further infraction of federal motor vehicle regulations, and so he is beyond the time that the jail sentence can be made active. We therefore dismiss his appeal as moot, because we perceive no subsequent collateral prejudice which defendant is suffering or will suffer and because he disclaims that the issue of his right to counsel is capable of repetition, yet evading review.
While we expressly decline to decide if the right to counsel attaches when a suspended jail sentence is imposed, it is certainly clear that upon a violation of probation the jail sentence could not be made an active one when an indigent defendant had requested counsel and that claim was denied. It follows that the magistrates in this circuit should not impose even a suspended jail sentence in any case in which an unrepresented defendant has declined to waive his right to counsel.
APPEAL DISMISSED.

Question: Did the court determine that it had jurisdiction to hear this case?
A. No
B. Yes
C. Mixed answer
D. Issue not discussed
Answer:

Answer: D