Court Opinion

ID: 9459258
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:15:35.788228+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:05.880021
License: Public Domain

WINTER, Circuit Judge
(concurring specially):
My own views that a presentence report should be freely exhibited to counsel for a defendant have been previously expressed in my special concurrence in Baker, and I continue to adhere to them. I join in the judgment of the court, but I call attention to the fact that this case is a good example of two additional reasons why disclosure should be the rule rather than the exception. First, if full disclosure is withheld, appellate review to determine if Townsend v. Burke, 334 U.S. 736, 68 S.Ct. 1252, 92 L.Ed. 1690 (1948) has been met, as suggested in the majority opinion in Baker, 388 F.2d at 933, is stimulated. What lawyer, court appointed or privately employed, would forego such review when he may be charged with incompetence for failure to invoke it should it subsequently be established that the sentencing judge *91relied upon erroneous data in the presentence report? Second, and intimately connected with the first consideration, unmeritorious appeals are encouraged. This appeal has been found to be lacking in merit. But how can counsel be expected to exercise professional judgment in advising whether an appeal should be taken when he is denied access to the facts on which to base his judgment? Current workloads show clearly that additional appeals, and especially unmeritorious additional appeals, are the last things which should be encouraged.