Court Opinion

ID: 9444835
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:13:37.56902+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:01.229648
License: Public Domain

MAJOR, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I regret I cannot give my assent even though the opinion evidences much thought and labor. The Supreme Court, in Marino v. Ragen, 332 U.S. 561, 562, 68 S.Ct. 240, 241, 92 L.Ed. 170, made the following decision, “In the light of the confession of error [citing cases] and the undisputed facts, we conclude that petitioner was denied the due process of law which the Fourteenth Amendment requires.” The decision related to Ma-rino’s conviction in 1925, in the Circuit Court of Winnebago County, Illinois, on a charge of murder. The inescapable effect of that decision was to void such judgment of conviction and to render it of no more force and effect than if it had been entered in the nighttime by the janitor of the county courthouse. It followed as an inevitable result that the process by which Marino was confined in prison was also void.
The argument based upon cases such as Young v. United States, 315 U.S. 257, 62 S.Ct. 510, 86 L.Ed. 832, that the Supreme Court is riot obligated to recognize a confession of error by law enforcement officials misses the point because in the instant case the court accepted such confession, relied upon it and rendered a decision on the issue as to whether Marino had been deprived of his constitutional rights. Of course, the Supreme Court and no other court is bound to render a decision on a confession of error or upon an agreement or stipulation of the parties, but when it does so its decision, so far as I am aware, carries no less weight than if it had been made on a complete record.
By the decision of the Supreme Court every vestige of the original proceeding in the state court was nullified, other than the indictment containing the charge. And by the Supreme Court mandate the state court had no alternative but to enter an order of discharge. Of course, at that time the State, if it so desired, could have taken Marino into custody and caused him to submit to another trial on the pending charge. In place of discharging Marino, however, the state court, without power or authority, proceeded to a hearing on the exact issue which had been decided favorably to Marino by the Supreme Court, that is, whether there had been a deprivation of his constitutional rights, and rendered a decision contrary to that of the Supreme Court.
This unprecedented performance took place under the pretext that the court did not understand the mandate issued by the Supreme Court. Whatever infirmities might have resided in the mandate, it is hornbook law that a mandate must be construed in connection with the opinion or decision of the court of *899issuance. With the clear, distinct and direct language employed by the Supreme Court, it bears upon the preposterous to think that any Judge, any lawyer, in fact any layman, could have misunderstood the action called for by the mandate.
Apparently, however, smarting under the castigation administered by one of the members of the Supreme Court, the state court refused to execute the mandate. The action by that court which followed demonstrates not only a callous indifference to the decision of the Supreme Court but constitutes a scathing indictment of the honesty, integrity and good faith of the highest prosecuting official of the State. To the credit of the Illinois Attorney General, however, it should be noted that he, with courage and deference to the decision of the highest tribunal in the land, made a valiant effort to persuade the state court to follow and execute the mandate. No subterfuge was employed by that official as a pretext to do otherwise. As might be expected, he understood the decision of the Supreme Court, its mandate and what it called for.
The Attorney General, when the State’s Attorney of Winnebago County refused to act, filed before the state court a petition requesting that Marino be discharged or granted a new trial. After reciting the facts relative to the conviction of Marino (referred to by the Attorney General as the petitioner), that official stated:
“Upon these undisputed facts, the Supreme Court of the United States has declared this petitioner was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment upon such conviction in violation of his rights under the Constitution of the United States.
“In consequence of the premises, it became the duty of Max Weston, State’s Attorney of Winnebago County, immediately upon the filing of the mandate aforesaid, to appear before this Court and move for the entry of a judgment order discharging the petitioner from the custody of thea Warden of the Illinois State Penitentiary. Max A. Weston, State’s Attorney, has failed and refused to do his duty in this regard.
“The Attorney General of Illinois, on behalf of the People of the State of Illinois, makes this motion, not in the interests of petitioner as an individual, but because he considers that the violation of the Constitutional rights of any person is tantamount to an attack on the rights and freedom of every inhabitant of the State of Illinois.
“Wherefore the People of the State of Illinois, by George F. Barrett, Attorney General of the State of Illinois, moves the Court to enter a judgment order in accordance with the mandate of the Supreme Court of the United States in this cause.” (Italics supplied.)
Notwithstanding the solemn declaration by the Supreme Court and the courageous position of the Attorney General, the state court, not understanding the mandate, conducted a hearing, decided that Marino had not been .deprived of any constitutional right and ordered him returned to prison. It thus reversed the decision of the Supreme Court. In my judgment, the order was entered arbitrarily and without power or authority. Neither it nor the proceeding from which it resulted should be given any consideration by this or any other court or tribunal.
Respondent in his brief, referring to the original judgment, argues, “That conviction remains on the official records of that court a valid and subsisting judgment,” and whether it is right or wrong, that it is effective because it remains un-reversed. To me, that is an astonishing as well as a spurious argument. The fact is that the parties before the Supreme Court in the instant proceeding were the same as those before the state court at the time of Marino’s conviction, namely, the State of Illinois and Marino. *900The issue was the same as if it had been raised on appeal. I know of no reason and no law which would justify the nullification of a decision by the Supreme Court rendered under these circumstances.
Stripped of all the window dressing with which this ease abounds-, there emerges the simple- issue as -to whether Marino was convicted, in violation of his constitutional rights, of a crime involving moral turpitude, ■ to-wit, murder. That issue has been decided in -the affirmative by the Supreme Court of the United States. Such' being the case, there never has been a lawful judgment of conviction standing against Marino. It is shocking that the Immigration and Naturalization Service should attempt, to utilize such a conviction as a basis, for deportation, I think, that federal officials should renounce rather than embrace the grievous, wrong which has ..been done Marino by Illinois officials,.,.
I would reverse the order, and direct that the writ of habeas corpus be issued and that Marino be discharged.