Court Opinion

ID: 9456353
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:50:27.796191+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:56.903773
License: Public Domain

LUMBARD, Chief Judge
(concurring) :
As Judge Kaufman’s opinion thoroughly and convincingly demonstrates, there is no merit to Stone’s claim of constitutional error in the admission at trial of incriminating pretrial statements made by Stone’s codefendants. I concur in affirming the judgment of the district court. However, in doing so, I wish to point out that there may well be a serious question as to whether Stone has any standing to be heard in a proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. From all that appears in the record be*1407fore us, Stone never objected to these statements at trial, and he chose not to appeal from the judgment of conviction. At the time of trial Mrs. Aborn, the principal complainant, was 90 years old. Where there may be reason to retry a criminal case, it is crucial to require that relief be sought without delay by timely objection and direct appeal.
I do not believe that any holding of the Supreme Court compels hearing Stone’s claims. There is no “grisly choice” between accepting life imprisonment or facing retrial and a possible death sentence if an appeal were successful, as was true in Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 439-440, 83 S.Ct. 822, 9 L.Ed.2d 837 (1963). In Henry v. Mississippi, 379 U.S. 443, 85 S.Ct. 564, 13 L.Ed.2d 408 (1965), while introduction of the illegally-seized evidence had not been objected to immediately, objections were raised by the close of the government’s case and an appeal was taken. The court never reached the question of whether this state procedural default could bar federal review on habeas corpus, but merely indicated that the matter would be open in a later proceeding. In Kaufman v. United States, 394 U.S. 217, 89 S.Ct. 1068, 22 L.Ed.2d 227 (1969), objection was made at trial to an unlawful search and seizure and, despite some confusion between petitioner and his newly-appointed counsel, the appellate court was notified, after oral argument, that this claim was being made.