Court Opinion

ID: 9442743
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 18:58:15.123663+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:12.979634
License: Public Domain

POPE, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I think that the questions discussed in the opinions of Judge Denman and of Judge Stephens are of much interest, so far as the abstract propositions stated by them are concerned. No doubt at some future time this court will'be required to decide these matters.
*469But I think none of these questions are before us in this case. The discussion by Judge Stephens of the academic question as to whether the last paragraph of section 2255, in making the motion authorized by this section a, condition precedent to or a substitute for, an application for a writ of habeas corpus, is an invalid attempt to suspend the writ, is interesting, but not appropriate here. For this appellant is not one who has sought habeas corpus, and been denied relief because of the prohibitions of this paragraph. Were he in that situation he would be in a position to raise these questions. Such were Barrett v. Hunter, 10 Cir., 180 F.2d 510, and Martin v. Hiatt, 5 Cir., 174 F.2d 350. Appellant entered the court below expressly seeking the benefits of the section. He obtained the re-examination of the record which section 2255 called for. As I shall show he was not entitled to more.
Insofar as it is based on constitutional grounds, the argument runs afoul not-only of the rule that a court will not “anticipate a question of constitutional law in advance of the necessity of deciding it”, but also of the rule that a court “will not pass upon the constitutionality of a statute at the instance of one who has availed himself of its benefits.” Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U.S. 288, at page 346, 56 S.Ct. 466, 483, 80 L.Ed. 688.
Judge Denman also finds difficulty in reconciling section 2255 with constitutional limitations. This he resolves by holding the procedure authorized by the section “inadequate or ineffective” to deal with appellant’s motion, and that therefore the judgment must be reversed. As I think the determination of the district court was right, and that it reached the only possible result, I think the order should be affirmed.
Appellant came forward with a motion which showed on its face that he was entitled to no relief. These are his complaints :
(1) That “he was arrested without a warrant, and questioned for five days before he * * * was taken before a committing magistrate.” There is no claim that any confession or admission made during these five days was offered or received in evidence.1
(2) That he was subjected to double jeopardy, in that several of the different counts of the indictment charged the same offense. The motion does not favor us with a statement as to whether his sentences were all concurrent. But, the motion shows that count one charged violation of section 78, and count two charged violation of section 63, of Title 18. The district court’s findings clarify the record for us, and show that “a conviction for the offense charged in count two required proof of facts not required to establish the offense charged in count one.” The sentences under these two counts were made to run consecutively. Those under all other counts were to be served concurrently with that under count two, and hence there is no basis for complaint here. Sinclair v. United States, 279 U.S. 263, 299, 49 S.Ct. 268, 73 L.Ed. 692.
(3) That he was deprived of the assistance of counsel in that “codefendant Juanita Jackson,” who testified against him, was represented by his attorney, who did not tell appellant he was also defending Juanita Jackson, “thus creating conflict of interest.” (There was no “codefendant.” He was the sole defendant.)
I cannot agree with Judge Denman’s conclusion that this allegation about his lawyer showed appellant was deprived of a constitutional right. The lawyer was chosen by himself, not by the court. Presumably he was the one person best prepared to try the case. I assume that Juanita Jackson, having pleaded guilty, hoped to gain favor by her testimony against appellant. It seems to be suggested here that it was the duty of the attorney to withdraw as counsel the moment he knew this witness would be called. I think it a purely imaginary assumption that he would not cross-examine Jackson as well as might some other lawyer. But, even indulging that assumption, and as*470suming that a court, either proceeding under Section 2255, or Under a petition for' a writ of habeas corpus, could conclude that the attorney in not-informing appellant of his prior representation of Juanita Jackson, or in not withdrawing from the case notwithstanding his general preparation to try it, was guilty of fraud and misconduct, what of it?
Are we now to add to all the other grounds for collateral attack upon a judgment of conviction that the accused’s attorney failed, at some point 'i-n'the trial, to take the right turn, or failed to inform the client of some fact in the lawyer’s experience, which, if known to the client, might have led to some other choice of counsel ?2
In dealing with the -court a lawyer must conduct himself as an officer of the court, but that he is thus referred to does not make him an arm of government to which constitutional limitations are addressed.3
*471The suggestion that the prosecutor should have suspected appellant’s attorney of improperly assuming a dual role, and have called it to the attention of the court, I think wholly without substance. A comparison of such a situation with that where the prosecutor’s conduct is such that the accused “was deceived and coerced into pleading guilty” Walker v. Johnston, 312 U.S. 275, 286, 61 S.Ct. 574, 579, 85 L.Ed. 830, or where the Government "knowingly employed false testimony” Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103, 113, 55 S.Ct. 340, 79 L.Ed. 791; Price v. Johnston, 334 U.S. 266, 275, 68 S.Ct. 1049, 1055, 92 L.Ed. 1356, is, as I see it, too farfetched to be realistic.
In the case of Dorsey v. Gill, supra, note 2, the prisoner claimed that he pleaded guilty because of a misrepresentation of fact made to him by his attorney. The .court held the allegation insufficient, citing Diggs v. Welch, supra, note 2, as authority. Here there is nothing startling, or even unusual, about an attorney representing each of two alleged accomplices. The gist of appellant’s complaint is that his attorney failed to tell him about representing Jackson. But here there was no such “farce and mockery of justice” as must have “shocked the conscience of the court.” In fact, neither the court nor the prosecutor could have been aware of any irregularity. Much less could it be said that the representation was “so lacking in competence” that it was “the duty of the court or the prosecution to observe it and to correct it.” The facts here have no resemblance to those in Jones v. Huff, 80 U.S.App.D.C. 254, 152 F.2d 14, which presented the extraordinary case mentioned in Diggs v. Welch, supra.
One must wonder what appellant would have had to say if, on first learning that Juanita Jackson would be called as a witness, his attorney had stood up and asked to be discharged, or if the United States Attorney had then suggested to the court that he do so.4
In my opinion all that the trial judge could possibly do with this motion was to lay it alongside the indictment and the judgment, and these papers would “conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief.” The motion was .not sufficient to take the court beyond this first clause in the third paragraph in the section. That he unnecessarily took testimony is immaterial. Since the motion was groundless, the court could properly dismiss it.5
I think the order should be affirmed.

. And therefore he has no complaint under the rule in the McNabb case. Townsend v. Burke, 334 U.S. 736, 738, 68 S.Ct. 1252, 92 L.Ed. 1690; Wheeler v. United States, 82 U.S.App.D.C. 363, 165 F.2d 225, 231.

. Cf. Diggs v. Welch, 80 U.S.App.D.C. 5, 148 F.2d 667, 669: “The result of such .an interpretation would be to give any Federal prisoner a hearing after his conviction in order to air his charges against the attorney who formerly represented him. It is well known that the drafting of petitions for habeas corpus has become a game in many penal institutions. Convicts are not subject to the deterrents of prosecution for perjury and contempt of court which affect ordinary litigants. The opportunity to try his former lawyer has its undoubted attraction to a disappointed prisoner. In many cases there is no written transcript and so he has a clear field for the exercise of his imagination. He may realize that his allegations will not be believed but the relief from monotony offered by a hearing in court is well worth the trouble of writing them down. To allow a prisoner to try the issue of the effectiveness of his counsel under a liberal definition of that phrase is to give every convict the privilege of opening a Pandora’s box of accusations which trial courts near large penal institutions would be compelled to hear. * * * For these reasons we think absence of effective representation by counsel must be strictly construed. It must mean representation so lacking in competence that it becomes the duty of the court or the prosecution to observe it and to correct it. * * * They are all cases where the circumstances surrounding the trial shocked the conscience of the court and made the proceedings a farce and a mockery of justice.”
Alred v. United States, 4 Cir., 177 F.2d 193, 194: “He may not have the sentences entered against him set aside and his case tried over by claiming that the attorney whom he selected did not properly represent him.”
See also Dorsey v. Gill, 80 U.S.App.D.C. 9, 148 F.2d 857, 875; Hudspeth v. McDonald, 10 Cir., 120 F.2d 962, 968; Merritt v. Hunter, 10 Cir., 170 F.2d 739, 741.

. Note that in the Glasser case, 315 U. S. 60, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680, the court characterized what it there disapproved as action of the court. See particularly, 315 U.S. at pages 70 .and' 71, 62 S.Ct. at page 464, 86 L.Ed. 680 r “a federal court cannot constitutionally deprive an accused * * * of the assistance of counsel.” “ * * * The Sixth, Amendment contemplates that such assistance be untrammeled and unimpaired’ by a court order requiring that one-lawyer shall simultaneously represent: conflicting interests.” Also 315 U.S. on, page 71, 62 S.Ct. at page 365: “ * * *’ the court may fairly be said- to be responsible for creating a situation which, resulted in the impairment of those-rights.” (Emphasis supplied.) In, Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103, 113, 55 S.Ct. 340, 342, 79 L.Ed. 791, the court-speaks of the impact of the Fourteenth- ■ Amendment, there involved, as follows r. “That amendment governs any action of' a state, ‘whether through its legislature,, through its courts, or through its executive or administrative officers.’ ”
It is this carefully observed distinction-which accounts for the statement of the-rule in the case of Diggs v. Welch, supra. [80 U.S.App.D.C. 5, 148 F.2d 670], note-2, that misconduct of an attorney docs-not amount to absence of effective representation of counsel within the meaning of the Sixth Amendment except in-the extreme case where the representation was “so lacking in competence that-it becomes the duty of .the court or the, prosecution to observe it and to correct: it”, and where it “shocked the conscience-of the court and made the proceedings-a • farce and a mockery of justice.” (Emphasis added). This statement of" the rule has been repeated by the same-court in Dorsey v. Gill, supra, note 2, and in Jones v. Huff, 80 U.S.App.D.C. 254, 152 F.2d 14, and by the Court of" Appeals for the Second Circuit in United States v. Wight, 176 F.2d 376, 379.

. If we are permitted, as Judge Denman undertakes to do, to examine the record on another appeal for the purpose of discovering what happened at appellant’s trial, we will discover some interesting circumstances. It was shown by testimony of numbers of witnesses, wholly apart from the witness Jackson, that appellant was engaged in systematically . purloining from the mail boxes where they had been delivered, government checks, chiefly those for veterans and for soldiers’ family allowances. He had thus stolen, forged and cashed a great number of such checks, and was therefore doubtless well advised to waive a jury, as he did. Since a jury was not present it was unnecessary for Hayman’s counsel to cross-examine Jackson as to her motives, — the experienced trial judge who heard the case knew as well as anyone, and without any such cross-examination, the caution which he must exercise in considering the testimony of this accomplice. I find nothing in the record to lend any support to a claimed lack of effective representation by counsel.

. Cf. Walker v. Johnston, 312 U.S. 275, 284, 61 S.Ct. 574, 578, 85 L.Ed. 830: “It will be observed that if, upon the face of the petition, it appears that the party is not entitled to the writ, the court may refuse to issue it.”