Court Opinion

ID: 9463498
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:09:00.236103+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:09.160038
License: Public Domain

HUFSTEDLER, Circuit Judge,
concurring specially (Joined by Judge Ely):
Although I concur with Judge Smith’s Opinion, I concur in that part of the Opinion dealing with committed fines solely under the compulsion of United States v. Dixon (9th Cir. 1976) 538 F.2d 812.
I believe that Dixon is wrong in denying standing to attack the constitutionality of a committed fine imposed on an indigent defendant until he or she has begun or is about to begin service of imprisonment for nonpayment of a committed fine. On the merits, I would hold that the imposition of a committed fine on Mrs. Castillo, an indigent,1 is constitutionally impermissible as a denial of equal protection.
No federal statute expressly authorizes committed fines. The only relevant statutes merely assume the power to impose such a fine. (18 U.S.C. §§ 3565, 3569.) The practice of committing to enforce fines, however, has an ancient lineage in English law going back to the Norman kings. (Note, “Fines, Imprisonment and the Poor,” 57 Calif.L.Rev. 778, 784-86 (1967).) In this country it existed at common law (cf. Ex parte Garrison (S.D.Cal.1924) 297 F. 509) and has been confirmed by statute in virtually all the states. (See Williams v. Illinois (1970) 399 U.S. 235, 246-59, 90 S.Ct. 2018, 26 L.Ed.2d 586, S. Rubin, The Laws of Criminal Correction, 283 & n. 142 (2d ed. 1973).) Federal courts adopted local practice. (Ex parte Barclay (D.Me.1907) 153 F. 669.) But the foundation in pre-existing law does not appear to be essential; at least one court placed the power to confine for nonpayment among the “inherent” powers of a criminal court, “otherwise the court would be impotent to enforce” fines. (Haddox v. Richardson (4th Cir. 1909) 168 F. 635, 639.)
In federal courts the decision to impose a committed fine rests in the discretion of the trial judge. (Hill v. U. S. ex rel Wampler (1936) 298 U.S. 460, 56 S.Ct. 760, 80 L.Ed. 1283; Ex parte Jackson (1877) 96 U.S. 727, 24 L.Ed. 877; U. S. v. Callahan (9th Cir. 1967) 371 F.2d 658.) Although the decision to sentence to a committed fine floats free of any statutory mooring, it is not completely unbound. The only basis recognized for this sanction is enforcement. (See, e. g., Williams v. Illinois, supra, 399 U.S. at 240, 90 S.Ct. 2018; Wildeblood v. U. S. (1960) 109 U.S.App.D.C. 163, 284 F.2d 592; U. S. v. Ridgewood Garment Co. (E.D.N.Y.1942) 44 F.Supp. 435.) Thus, it is improper to sentence to a fixed period upon default as a punitive measure; rather, the defendant must be released upon payment. (Chapman v. U. S. (5th Cir. 1926) 10 F.2d 124; U. S. v. Wagner (9th Cir. 1924) 3 F.2d 864; but see S. Rubin, supra, at 283-84.) This sentence must further the enforcement process or it drifts away from its purpose. Here, in particular, the term of imprisonment (2 years) and fine ($1,500) were both substantially less than the statutory maximum under 18 U.S.C. § 1426, 5 years and $5,000. Since the sentence could have been much greater, the district court did not have punishment in mind when it assigned the committed fine.
When it imposed the fine, the district court made no prediction that Castillo would be able to pay it upon her release. *586Were there some reasons to expect her to acquire $1,500, above and beyond her needs and those of her five children, the sentence might be expected to fulfill its enforcement role. In Fuller v. Oregon (1974) 417 U.S. 40, 94 S.Ct. 2116, 40 L.Ed.2d 642, the Supreme Court upheld a statute recouping from former indigents the costs of assigned counsel. An important feature of the statute was a determination by the trial judge at the time of sentencing that the defendant would be able to make subsequent payments. Here, where Castillo is presently indigent, her husband is in prison, and she has no prospects of significantly changing her status, a committed fine is most unlikely to play its only permissible role. Of course, keeping such a person in prison is fiscally counter-productive for the Government.
Congress, over a hundred years ago, recognized the futility of trying to extract a fine from an indigent when it passed Rev. Stat. § 1042. Section 1042’s successor, 18 U.S.C. § 3569, permits a person held 30 days, “solely for nonpayment of . . . [a] fine” to declare indigency and be released from custody. The procedure does not discharge the underlying fine and the Government can still execute against a person’s property. (18 U.S.C. § 3565.) Most states have set an upper limit on time served, or allowed the convict to work off the fine at a specific amount per day. (See American Bar Association, Standards Relating to Sentencing Alternatives and Procedures 286, 287 (Tent. Draft 1967).) In England, since 1914, and more recently in various states in this country, installment payment has been permitted. (Mannheim, “Comparative Sentencing Practice,” 23 L. & Contemp. Problems 557, 563 (1957); Note, “Fines and Fining,” 101 U.Pa.L.Rev. 1013, 1023 (1953).)
These palliatives do not reach the core issue: indigents may be held in jail while non-indigents, otherwise similarly situated, are released. In 1970 and 1971, the Supreme Court made it clear that if a defendant, because of his financial inability to pay a fine, will be imprisoned longer than someone who has the ability to pay the fine, then the sentence is invalid. (Tate v. Short (1971) 401 U.S. 395, 91 S.Ct. 668, 28 L.Ed.2d 130; Williams v. Illinois, supra.) This is true whether the longer imprisonment results from the imposition of the sentence or by the fact that the nonpayment of a committed fine would adversely affect the defendant’s parole status.2
Tate and Williams leave courts ample artillery to collect defaulted fines. Section 3565 authorizes execution against the defaulter’s property. (See U. S. v. Baird (2d Cir. 1957) 241 F.2d 170 (After pauper’s oath execution exclusive remedy; contempt not allowed.).) Moreover, 18 U.S.C. § 3651 permits the court to condition probation upon the condition of a fine, either in lump sum or in installments. Probation can be revoked for willful nonpayment of the fine.
A committed fine as applied to one presently indigent and lacking any realistic prospects of acquiring the means to pay can play no role in enforcing payment; the Government has adequate tools to move against the defendant’s property; and if the indigent was imprisoned, the sanction would be illegal.

. The Government does not contest Castillo’s indigency. The district judge had appointed trial counsel, had ordered that she could appeal in forma pauperis, and had appointed appellate counsel. Castillo’s husband had been sentenced to 12 years in prison on related charges. They have five children.

. The Bureau of Prisons has formally recognized the unconstitutionality of holding indigents beyond the term of the sentence. (28 C.F.R § 2.32.) But this regulation, which is subject to withdrawal, cannot legitimate the underlying sentence.