Court Opinion

ID: 9451217
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:10:14.898605+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:37.089166
License: Public Domain

BAZELON, Chief Judge
(dissenting) :
Bail pending appeal is “discretionary with the court,” as the majority states. *861But it is also “heavily favored.” 1 And although the element of danger to the community is a relevant consideration,2 a finding of such danger must rest on a “scrupulous inquiry” into appellant’s past, his prospects if released, and conditions of release to mitigate the danger.3 This inquiry must be conducted by the District Court. Rule 38(c), Fed.R.Crim.P.4
As required, appellant first submitted his bail application to the District Court. But the judge denied the motion on the same day it was filed, without the benefit of a Government response, of oral argument, of the usual presentence report of the Probation Office, or of a hearing of any kind. And no reason appears why it was denied in such a summary fashion or why it was denied at all. But since the District Court granted leave to appeal in forma pauperis, it determined that the appeal was not “frivolous or taken for delay,” Rule 46(b), Fed.R.Crim.P.
Although this court may make an independent determination whether bail should be granted, as a practical matter only the District Court can conduct the “scrupulous inquiry” and make the findings contemplated by Rule 38(c).5 Without such a record, neither the District Court nor this court can properly exercise its discretion. We are “left in a welter of assertion and counter-assertion * * * from which we have no adequate means of emerging.” 6
Moreover, Rule 38(c) provides, inter alia, that an application for bail to the Court of Appeals show “reasons given for the denial [below].” Plainly, this contemplates a disclosure of such reasons by the District Court. Without reasons, the appellant and this court “cannot know whether the court intended to deny release because the appeal was ‘frivolous or taken for delay,’ or because appellant’s flight could not be deterred if he were released or because his release would endanger the community.” 7 Both fairness to the appellant and this court’s role in bail administration require the District Court to state its reasons for denying bail.8
*862An element of speculation necessarily inheres in any prediction of dangerousness. I respectfully suggest, however, that in this case the majority indulges in undue speculation if it assumes, for example, that appellant is guilty of charges of the indictment which the Government dismissed, and that the amount and character of the heroin allegedly involved in the present charges and conviction of two narcotics offenses involving possession show appellant is a peddler.
Perhaps the most crucial gap in the record results from the failure of the District Court to investigate appellant’s prospects if released. Appellant states that he will, if released, resume his occupation as a floor sander and that he owns a floor sanding machine. The Government offers no contrary evidence, alleging only that appellant’s statements are “unsupported by anything of record.” Appellant also states that if released he hopes to enroll in the narcotic addiction program at the Psychiatric Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center at the District of Columbia General Hospital, where, counsel alleges, a patient who works during the day may sleep at the Center and attend meetings during non-working hours. He also hopes to see a private psychiatrist who has examined him on several occasions. The existence of employment, the nature of the program at the Center, and the willingness of the Center or the psychiatrist to treat him are crucial issues which require explanation and resolution. Potential dangerousness to the community may be reduced by conditioning appellant’s release on his obtaining employment and treatment.
Since this court cannot properly exercise its discretion absent a record of a careful inquiry in the District Court, I would remand to that court for such an inquiry and explicit findings of fact regarding the matters discussed herein.

. Bandy v. United States, 81 S.Ct. 197, 198 (1960) (Mr. Justice Douglas as Circuit Justice); Leigh v. United States, 82 S.Ct. 994, 996, 8 L.Ed.2d 269 (1962) (Chief Justice Warren as Circuit Justice); Christoffel v. United States, 89 U.S.App.D.C. 341, 347, 196 F.2d 560, 566 (1952).

. Rule 33(f), General Rules of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

. Hairston v. United States, 120 U.S.App.D.C. 31, 35, 343 E.2d 313, 317 (1965) (Bazelon, C.J., dissenting).

. “ (e) Application for Relief Pending Review. If application is made to a court of appeals * * * for bail pending appeal * * * the application shall be upon notice and shall show that application to the court below or a judge thereof is not practicable or that application has been made and denied, with the reasons given for the denial, or that the action on the application did not afford the relief to which the appellant considers himself to be entitled.”
This procedure had been established in the Second Circuit without rule in United States v. Hansell, 109 F.2d 613 (2d Cir. 1940).

. See United States v. Hansell, supra note 4, at 614.

. Id. at 614.

. Pelletier v. United States, 120 U.S.App.D.C. 40, 42, 343 F.2d 322, 324 (1965) (concurring opinion).

. The Bail Reform bill which passed the Senate on September 16, 1965, prescribes conditions for pre-trial release in all non-capital cases; and if the accused is unable to meet the conditions within 24 hours, the judicial officer who imposed them must “set forth the reasons for requiring the conditions” or amend them. This requirement also applies to bail pending appeal “unless the court or judge has reason to believe that no one or more of the conditions of release will reasonably assure that the person will not flee or pose a danger to any other person or to the community.” S. 1357, 89th Cong., 1st Sess. § 3(a) (1965). If reasons are required when release conditions are not met, it follows a fortiori that they would be required when release is denied altogether.