Court Opinion

ID: 9453233
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:07:36.574487+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:34.548813
License: Public Domain

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM:
Upon the original consideration of this appeal we held that a Rule 18 transfer of this case from one division to another “was for the convenience of the prosecution, not the convenience of the defendant”, that overruling the defendant’s objection was plain error, and the conviction which followed was reversed and remanded. The Government petitions for rehearing, urging that “the error noticed by this Court is neither plain nor does it affect substantial rights as is anticipated by Rule 52(b), Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure”.
As early as 1940, the Supreme Court held:
“Of course appellate courts ‘in the public interest, may, of their own motion, notice errors to which no exception has been taken, if the errors are obvious, or if they otherwise seriously affect the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings’.” United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150, 60 S.Ct. 811, 84 L.Ed. 1129.
Rule 52(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that “Plain error or defects affecting substantial *45rights may be noticed although they were not brought to the attention of the court”.
Appellant’s objections to being tried in Valdosta, although the wrong reasons were assigned, were brought to the attention of the District Court. It might be said, then, that overruling the objections should have been denominated “reversible” rather than “plain”. It may be said also, with what justification we are not called upon to judge, that confusion has arisen in the minds of the Bar as to the literally correct meaning of “plain error” as the term has been used in our former opinions.
This Court very recently examined the question in considerable depth in Sykes v. United States, 373 F.2d 607, 1966, cert, denied, 386 U.S. 977, 87 S.Ct. 1172, 18 L.Ed.2d 138 (1967). It was there held that the determination of whether the error was obvious and affected substantial rights is to be made upon the facts of the particular case. This negates the idea of hard and fast classifications in either the application of the principle or the use of a descriptive title.
This case was decided on its particular facts. The record revealed by the prosecutor’s statement in open court, that the only consideration for this transfer was the convenience of the Government. The record reveals no consideration for the convenience of the defendant. The transfer was thus wholly without the provisions of Rule 18. It was obviously erroneous. It deprived the defendant of a trial at Thomasville, the division in which the alleged offense occurred, where he had been arraigned, and where he most certainly would have been tried had the Government been in position to prosecute at that place. This is not a case of a man being jailed for lack of bail and needing an early trial. The record shows nothing to indicate that a trial in some other division would have had at least some regard, of some kind, for the convenience of the defendant.
Consequently, whether we call it “reversible error” or “plain error” this appellant is plainly entitled to be tried at Thomasville unless there be a further transfer in accordance with Rule 18, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
The petition for rehearing’ is
Denied.