Court Opinion

ID: 9478815
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:58:47.108272+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:37.873105
License: Public Domain

NOONAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
As the court trenchantly sums up the evidence against him, Darrell Vowiell obtained bolt cutters for Rodney Murdock, Sylvia Brown and Shelley Bosch, three prisoners at Pleasanton, arranged for a get away car and arranged to have a driver for the car. A prisoner at Pleasanton himself, Vowiell master-minded the escape of the other three from prison. Four days after the prisoners had gotten out of Pleasanton Vowiell was still giving them advice on how to make their escape good. Nonetheless, the court holds that the conviction of Vow-iell should be reversed.
Four days after the breakout, Murdock, Brown and Bosch were still engaged in the federal crime of escape. 18 U.S.C. § 751(a). It is “clear beyond peradventure that escape from federal custody as defined in § 751(a) is a continuing offense and that an escapee can be held liable for failure to return to custody as well as for his initial departure”. United States v. Bailey, 444 U.S. 394, 413, 100 S.Ct. 624, 636, 62 L.Ed.2d 575 (1980). As the prisoners were still escaping it is very hard to understand why Vowiell in advising them was not committing the crime of aiding or assisting the escape. 18 U.S.C. § 752.
The court intimates that Vowiell was charged with the wrong crime and that he was really guilty of harboring or concealing prisoners after the prisoners escaped in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1072, “Concealing escaped prisoner.” The natural meaning of “harbor” or “conceal” points to persons who provide shelter or equipment to a prisoner who has gotten outside the prison. E.g., United States v. Eaglin, 571 F.2d 1069 (9th Cir.), cert. denied 435 U.S. 906, 98 S.Ct. 1453, 55 L.Ed.2d 497 (1977). It is difficult to believe that Vowiell, in prison, was concealing the escapees; and “harboring” must be read as parallel to “concealing.” While possibly the government might be able to argue that advising amounts to concealing or harboring, the more evident effect of advising is to assist the escape.
The court relies on United States v. Orth, 252 F. 566 (4th Cir.1918). Here Robert Fay escaped from the federal prison in Atlanta on August 29, 1916 and was assisted by the defendant in Charleston on September 23, 1916. The defendant was convicted of harboring a fugitive and of assisting an escape. Reversing the second conviction, the circuit court laid down as the predicate for reversal of this proposition: “When the physical control has been ended by flight beyond immediate active pursuit, the escape is complete.” Id. at 567. The court cited one American and one English treatise and one Georgia and one North Carolina case for this proposition, but no federal cases. Orth did not involve the master-mind of an escape conspiracy, but an apparent stranger who helped Fay. On its facts alone, it is distinguishable from our case. But drawing a distinction is unnecessary. The basic proposition of Orth is squarely overruled by Bailey, supra.
In Bailey, in the course of defining escape from federal custody as a continuing offense, Justice Rehnquist observed: “Moreover, every federal court that has considered this issue has held, either explicitly or implicitly, that § 751(a) defines a continuing offense.” Id. at 413, 100 S.Ct. at 636, citing cases from the fifth, eighth, and ninth circuits. Justice Rehnquist did not note that Orth is contra, but of course Orth ceased to have vitality after Bailey had repudiated its central position.
The Ninth Circuit case cited with approval by Bailey is United States v. Michelson, 559 F.2d 567 (9th Cir.1977). Like Bailey, it dealt with a defense of duress. Like Bailey it concluded that escape is a continuing offense. Id. at 570. Like Bailey, it is contrary to the predicate of Orth.
The notion that an escape is complete when physical pursuit has ceased reflects the ethic of a fox-hunting society. When the fox has reached cover, the chase is over. This sporting etiquette has no place *1273in modern federal law. It has been decisively rejected by the Supreme Court. Darryl Vowiell on April 20, 1986 was still actively engaged in conspiracy to aid an escape that was still in progress.
The court’s approach casts a doubt on the general rule of law that an accessory after the fact is “a person who, knowing that a felony has been committed, renders aid to the felon in order to protect him, hinders his apprehension, or facilitates his escape.” Wharton’s Criminal Law, ed. C. Torcia, (1978 & 1987 Supp.) § 33. This normal principle requires that the government prove a felony has been committed; that the defendant knew it has been committed; and that the defendant has then assisted the felon to escape. E.g., United States v. Rux, 412 F.2d 331 (9th Cir.1969). This normal principle is the common law rule as to escapes from prison. “If the person rendered aid to the prisoner after his escape, he would be guilty as an accessory after the fact.” Wharton’s Criminal Law § 667. The earlier edition of Wharton § 1371 cited by the court says the accessory is not “a party to the offense of escape,” only in the absence of a statute. Here there is a statute explicitly focused on aiding an escape. Congress has codified the common law rule as to accessories after the fact in the case of persons assisting an escape. 18 U.S.C. § 752(a). The court mutilates the statute.
I would affirm the decision of the district court.