Court Opinion

ID: 9467911
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:59:34.435069+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:35.462014
License: Public Domain

WALLACE, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur in the affirmance of Taylor’s conviction (No. 78-2512), but respectfully dissent from the majority’s treatment of the coram nobis issue (No. 79-1240).
I believe the majority errs in reversing the district judge’s holding that the petition for a writ of coram nobis is untimely because of the pendency of the direct appeal of conviction. I agree that there is no jurisdictional impediment to hearing a cor-am nobis petition during the pendency of a direct appeal. Jack v. United States, 435 F.2d 317, 318 (9th Cir. 1970) (per curiam), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 933, 91 S.Ct. 1530, 28 L.Ed.2d 867 (1971); Womack v. United States, 395 F.2d 630, 631 (D.C. Cir. 1968) (per curiam). The majority, however, gives short shrift to the requirement that there be “extraordinary circumstances” before such a petition may be reviewed. The basis for this requirement is that “determination of the direct appeal may render collateral attack unnecessary.” Id. Thus, for example, if we had reversed Taylor’s conviction, his petition for a writ of coram nobis would have been unnecessary and would have been a waste of judicial resources. By affirming the district judge, we would not deprive Taylor of his opportunity to seek a writ of coram nobis. Indeed, the usual procedure is to seek such a writ after the direct appeal is decided.
The majority appears to take the position that because the coram nobis claim and the claim on appeal are related, the disposition of the coram nobis question could undermine the decision on appeal. This, as I read the majority opinion, provides the “extraordinary circumstance” that warrants the propriety of a collateral attack during the pendency of a direct appeal. To make this the standard for permitting a collateral attack would eliminate the “extraordinary circumstance” requirement. If this reading is correct, regardless of the relationship between the arguments made in support of coram nobis and reversal of conviction, granting a writ of coram nobis will always, in the sense used by the majority, “undermine” the affirmance of a conviction. The relationship between the arguments on appeal and on coram nobis does not strengthen the majority’s position. Our disposition of the legal evidentiary question on appeal remains valid regardless of whether the prosecutor’s representation was true, just as any disposition of a legal issue on appeal would remain valid even if subsequently set aside on a collateral issue.
The majority appears to treat this case as a limited exception, but has failed to make any analysis of when an “extraordinary circumstance” exists such that a collateral attack pending appeal is permissible. I have been able to locate only one court of appeals opinion to identify an “extraordinary circumstance.” In United States v. Tindle, 522 F.2d 689 (D.C. Cir. 1975), the court held that a section 2255 motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel was permissible despite the pendency of an appeal. Id. at 692-93. The D.C. Circuit reached this conclusion as the best possible resolution of the tension between its precedents in Womack v. United States, supra, and United States v. DeCoster, 487 F.2d 1197 (D.C. Cir. 1973). See United States v. Tindle, supra, 522 F.2d 692-93 & n.10. Taylor would have us read Tindle broadly to stand for the proposition that whenever the desired relief cannot be sought on appeal, it may be sought collaterally pending appeal. I have substantial doubts whether our circuit should adopt even the narrowest reading of Tindle, but there is certainly no basis for the broad reading of Tindle that Taylor urges. Indeed, even if there were valid reasons for adopting the broad reading, I am not convinced that Taylor had no remedy on appeal. Taylor claims that the basis for his coram nobis petition is that the defect, the prosecutor’s alleged misrepresentation *576about the existence of subpoenas, lies outside the record. As footnote 5 in the majority opinion indicates, the district judge did not require the prosecutor to make an offer of proof of the existence of the subpoenas. This may have been error, but it may have been waived by Taylor’s counsel failing to object and, in fact, accepting the prosecutor’s oral representations. In any event, it is at least arguable that Taylor had a remedy on appeal. It would have been most efficient for him to raise his arguments on appeal, then, if unsuccessful, seek a writ of coram nobis, rather than burden the courts with two simultaneous proceedings.
The majority improperly expands the “extraordinary circumstances” exception to the extent that it effectively eliminates the rule preventing collateral attacks to criminal convictions during the pendency of direct appeals from the convictions. I would hold that the district judge properly dismissed the petition for a writ of coram nobis to the extent that the dismissal was without prejudice to Taylor’s ability to refile after appeal. Because I think the petition was untimely, I would not reach the issue of whether a hearing should have been held.