Court Opinion

ID: 9459793
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:32:01.687306+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:20.524330
License: Public Domain

WILLIAM M. BYRNE, Sr., District Judge
(dissenting):
I respectfully dissent.
The majority, insensitive to the District Court findings, weighs the facts and concludes “that there was a failure to heed the strict requirements of Rule 11.”
Not only did the District Court, meticulously question Burton on November 4, 1968, before determining that his plea was made voluntarily with understanding of the nature of the charge and the consequences of the plea, but the interrogation was repeated on November 18th, at which time the court even offered to permit the accused to withdraw his plea and enter a plea of not guilty. Surely this period must be considered a part of “the time the plea is accepted.” 1
To support its view that no reliance could have been placed by the court on Burton’s admissions to the probation officer, the majority cites Heiden v. United States, 353 F.2d 53 (C.A. 9, 1965), where this court stated, “the fact that a plea was intelligently entered— must be ascertained at the time of arraignment or of waiver and not after the fact. When this is done the facts can be made to appear of record; . . . When the ascertainment is subsequently made after disputes have arisen, a degree of uncertainty is bound to creep in . . . .” (Emphasis supplied.)
It is clear that Heiden was distinguishing the period when the accused is seeking to enter a plea of guilty and the subsequent period “after disputes have arisen,” and the accused is claiming that his plea, or (as in the case of Heiden) his waiver of counsel, was not voluntary. The interval prior to Burton’s sentence on November 18th, when he was again fully questioned and given the opportu*1189nity to change his plea, certainly must be included in the period when Burton was seeking to enter a plea of guilty. That is the teaching of Heiden.
To further support the view that no reliance could be placed on Burton’s admissions, the majority states, “Secondly, Burton stresses that he accompanied the alleged statement with repeated protestations of innocence based upon absence of either his knowledge of any illegal use to be made of the machine, or of his intent to participate in the crime.” Although the appellant makes a statement to that effect in his brief filed with this court, the record is devoid of any such protestations when he appeared for sentencing, subsequent to the statement and alleged protestations of innocence, there was no protest or declaration of innocence, but on the contrary further admissions of guilt.
McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 89 S.Ct. 1166, 22 L.Ed.2d 418 (1969), is clearly distinguishable from the instant case. In McCarthy, unlike the instant case where the court so meticulously questioned Burton to determine if his plea was voluntary, the District Judge merely advised McCarthy of the maximum penalty and, when requested by the prosecutor, inquired as to whether his plea was the product of threats or promises.
The District Court advised Burton that “on November 4 you entered a plea of guilty to a charge of conspiracy to transport counterfeit tools in interstate commerce, actually in violation of two federal statutes.” Anyone who understands the English language understands the meaning of the words “conspiracy”, “transport”, “counterfeit”, and “tools”. Burton certainly showed the meaning was clear in his mind when pleading for leniency he stated “this conspiracy consisted of actually five of us.” He may not have known all of the intricacies of the law of conspiracy, but he knew the facts. He knew that he and four others conspired to transport counterfeit tools in interstate commerce. That knowledge together with knowledge of the consequences of his plea which he repeatedly asserted to be free and voluntary, was all that was required.
Nothing in the record impeaches Burton’s plea or suggests that his admissions in open court were anything but the truth. See Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 25 L.Ed.2d 747 (1970).
Assuming that there was a “failure to heed the strict requirements of Rule 11,” which I have attempted to show was not the situation here, it would not avail Burton as his plea was accepted in 1968. The Supreme Court in Halliday v. United States, 394 U.S. 831, 89 S.Ct. 1498, 23 L.Ed.2d 16 (1969), issued the following fiat: “We hold that only those defendants whose guilty pleas were accepted after April 2, 1969, are entitled to plead anew if their pleas were accepted without full compliance with Rule 11.” (Emphasis supplied.)
This court decided Norman v. United States, 429 F.2d 1310 (9 Cir., 1970) under the rule of Halliday. This case should be disposed of in the same manner.
After concluding that the District Court committed prejudicial error by “failure to wholly and fully comply with the specific mandates of Rule 11,” the majority adds a paragraph of dictum relating to the assumed “supervisory powers” of this court.
Until 1943, in the Anglo-American system of justice, the rule that appellate courts could reverse lower courts only when error was present, was never questioned. In McNabb v. United States, 318 U.S. 332, 63 S.Ct. 608, 87 L.Ed. 819 (1943), the Supreme Court announced the new doctrine that, as the court of ultimate review, it had supervisory powers over lower courts which permitted the reversal of judgments even in the absence of error. The McNabb court explained :
“In holding that the petitioners’ admissions were improperly received in evidence against them, and that having been based on this evidence their *1190convictions cannot stand, we confine-ourselves to our limited function as the court of ultimate review of the standards formulated and applied by federal courts in the trial of criminal cases.” (Emphasis supplied.)
A court of appeals is not “the court of ultimate review” and its province as a court is limited to reversing district courts only when prejudicial error is found. This being so, and the court having decided the case on what it deems to be prejudicial error, why the dictum ? 2
If the purpose of the embellishment is to chide the district court judges of the Circuit, it is redundant because they know they must not only comply with Rule 11, but with all of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. This is so because it is the law which they have taken on oath to abide by, and not because of any assumed “supervisory power” pronouncement. If they commit error they want the Court of Appeals to correct it and they expect the higher court to follow the law in doing so.
I would affirm.

. See quotation from Castro v. United States in majority opinion.

. The majority apparently holds the view that the Supreme Court in La Buy v. Howes Leather Co., 352 U.S. 249, 77 S.Ct. 309, 1 L.Ed.2d 290, endowed courts of appeals with the MdNaVb “supervisory power.” It is not clear just what Mr. Justice Clark meant when writing for the majority he stated, “We believe that supervisory control of the District Courts by the Courts of Appeals is necessary to proper judicial administration in the federal system. The All Writs Act confers on the Courts of Appeals the discretionary power to issue writs of mandamus in the exceptional circumstances existing here.” However, it is clear that it was not intended to mean that the Courts of Appeals had supervisory power to reverse a District Court in the absence of prejudicial error.
To read the opinion and the opinion of the Court of Appeals in La Buy (i. e., 7 Cir., 226 F.2d 703) is to refute any such contention. The Court of Appeals decided the case on the error of the District Court, stating “We can only conclude that the orders complained of are beyond the permissive scope of the rule, [Rule 53(b) F.R.Crim.P.] and constitute an abuse of discretion.” The Court of Appeals did not even mention the term “supervisory powers.” The Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision stated: “Certainly, as the Court of Appeals found here, there was a clear abuse of discretion.” Incidentally, the four dissenting Justices never even mentioned the term “supervisory power.” Mr. Justice Clark could only have been referring to the power of Courts of Appeals to reverse District Courts when prejudicial error is present.