Opinion ID: 699226
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Disentitlement of access to appellate courts.

Text: 37 The doctrine was first applied in the federal courts by the Supreme Court's denial of its processes for a fugitive's appeal to the Court from his conviction in Washington Territory. Smith v. U.S., 94 U.S. 97, 24 L.Ed. 32 (1876). The Court drew upon earlier state cases. Smith was followed by Bonahan v. Nebraska, 125 U.S. 692, 8 S.Ct. 1390, 31 L.Ed. 854 (1887), a similar case. Soon after Smith and Bonahan, the Court considered the constitutionality of disentitlement when invoked by a state court. The Supreme Court of Georgia had dismissed an appeal to it by a fugitive from a death penalty conviction. Over due process objections the Supreme Court affirmed. Allen v. Georgia, 166 U.S. 138, 17 S.Ct. 525, 41 L.Ed. 949 (1897). Accord, Brinlee v. Crisp, 608 F.2d 839, 857 (10th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1047, 100 S.Ct. 737, 62 L.Ed.2d 733 (1980). 38 In Eisler v. U.S., 338 U.S. 189, 69 S.Ct. 1453, 93 L.Ed. 1897, cert. dismissed, 338 U.S. 883, 70 S.Ct. 181, 94 L.Ed. 542 (1949), the litigant appealed from a contempt of Congress conviction. After submission of his case to the Court on the merits he fled the country, and the Court, applying Smith and Bonahan, struck his case from the docket. 39 The most familiar federal case is Molinaro v. New Jersey, 396 U.S. 365, 90 S.Ct. 498, 24 L.Ed.2d 586 (1970), in which the Court, citing Smith, Bonahan, Allen v. Georgia, and Eisler, applied disentitlement to the appeal of a fugitive from a state court conviction. 40 No persuasive reason exists why this Court should proceed to adjudicate the merits of a criminal case after the convicted defendant who has sought review escapes from the restraints placed upon him pursuant to the conviction. While such an escape does not strip the case of its character as an adjudicable case or controversy, we believe it disentitles the defendant to call upon the resources of the Court for determination of his claims. In the absence of specific provision to the contrary in the statute under which Molinaro appeals, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1257(2), we conclude, in light of the Smith and Bonahan decisions, that the Court has the authority to dismiss the appeal on this ground. 41 Id. at 366, 90 S.Ct. at 498-99. In 1975 the Court confirmed the history and vitality of the doctrine.This Court itself has long followed the practice of declining to review the convictions of escaped criminal defendants ...[,] a long-standing and established principle of American law. 42 Estelle v. Dorrough, 420 U.S. 534, 537, 95 S.Ct. 1173, 1175, 43 L.Ed.2d 377 (1975). 43 Since Molinaro was handed down in 1970, in what we estimate to be more than 100 cases, all or substantially all federal circuit courts have invoked Molinaro and its predecessors and successors to disentitle appellants, criminal and civil, from the appellate processes of the court. In some cases the court has dismissed the appeal unconditionally, in others with conditions upon the fugitive's returning to custody within some fixed period. Other decisions have refused to reinstate appeals that have been summarily dismissed. Still other cases have been concerned with the effect of the fugitive's voluntary return to custody before fugitivity has been made an issue. 7 44 Disentitlement of access to appellate court applies to appeals in civil cases as well as to criminal appeals: Broadway v. City of Montgomery, 530 F.2d 657 (5th Cir.1976) (dismissing the appeal in a Sec. 1983 action of a fugitive from a state conviction); Conforte v. Commissioner, 692 F.2d 587, 589 (9th Cir.1982) (dismissing the appeal of a civil tax assessment against appellant, a fugitive from a federal tax conviction, and stating, [T]he rule [of disentitlement] should apply with greater force in civil cases where an individual's liberty is not at stake.), stay denied, 459 U.S. 1309, 103 S.Ct. 663, 74 L.Ed.2d 588 (1983); Stern v. U.S., 249 F.2d 720 (2d Cir.1957) (dismissing the appeal by fugitives from fines and costs for contempt in failing to obey a grand jury subpoena), cert. denied, 357 U.S. 919, 78 S.Ct. 1360, 2 L.Ed.2d 1364 (1958). 45 Numerous cases have denied appellate access to appellants seeking review of denials of habeas corpus relief. Johnson v. Laird, 432 F.2d 77 (9th Cir.1970) (district court dismissed petition for habeas corpus, litigant went AWOL pending his appeal, appeal dismissed); Arana v. U.S. Immigration & Nat. Serv., 673 F.2d 75 (3d Cir.1982) (dismissing the appeal of the denial of a habeas corpus petition of litigant who had been declared deportable and had hidden his whereabouts from authorities); Gonzales v. Stover, 575 F.2d 827 (10th Cir.1978) (habeas petition by fugitive dismissed, certificate of probable cause denied by circuit court); U.S. v. Glomb, 877 F.2d 1 (5th Cir.1989) (affirming the dismissal of a habeas corpus petition on the ground that fugitivity was a voluntary by-pass where, after pleading guilty with the right to appeal a constitutional issue, defendant escaped and his direct appeal was dismissed); Lopez v. Malley, 552 F.2d 682 (10th Cir.1977) (petition for habeas denied, petitioner fled pending appeal, appeal dismissed). 46 In Van Blaricom v. Forscht, 490 F.2d 461 (5th Cir.1974) (en banc), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 915, 96 S.Ct. 222, 46 L.Ed.2d 144 (1975), disentitlement was retroactively applied in a civil case by an en banc decision of the Court of Appeals, which vacated the decision of a panel that had not known appellant was a fugitive. In a civil case the Third Circuit applied disentitlement prospectively in Ali v. Sims, 788 F.2d 954 (3d Cir.1986), to deny a fugitive future access to the district court for a new trial. Damages were awarded to plaintiff. Plaintiff and defendants appealed, and plaintiff fled, hijacking a plane and endangering passengers. The court reversed the judgment for plaintiff but, applying Fed.R.Civ.P. 37 and 41 and Molinaro, held plaintiff was not entitled to a new trial. 47 [T]he principles of Molinaro intersect with the principles underlying Fed.R.Civ.P. 37 & 41, which render a party's misconduct a basis for the dismissal of his case. See supra pp. 957-958. Indeed, the cases involving dismissals under the Federal Rules generally entail conduct far less egregious than a flight from justice. Thus, the jurisprudence upholding such sanctions as necessary and proper in an era of court backlogs dovetails with the Molinaro doctrine. Cf. Eash v. Riggins Trucking, Inc., 757 F.2d 557 (3d Cir.1985) (in banc ) (it is within the inherent powers of the court to take such actions as are necessary for the effective administration of the judicial system). 48 In sum, the concerns that animate Molinaro as well as the principles that undergird Rule 37 and Rule 41 sanctions, dictate that Ali, whose contempt for justice was manifest in the egregious act of skyjacking a plane and endangering innocent lives in a flight from justice, not be awarded a new trial. 49 Id. at 959. 50