Court Opinion

ID: 9463015
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:56:17.855012+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:54.011222
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I concur in the result reached in this case, but in light of existing case law I am unwilling to agree to the comment of the majority that in a § 2255 proceeding urging a Tucker-type challenge to underlying pri- or convictions, which have influenced a federal prison sentence, the petitioner must have exhausted his state remedies.
In the instant case, the petitioner has exhausted his state remedies with respect to challenges to his 1964 pleas. Furthermore, the validity of his 1966 pleas will soon be resolved in state court and no reason appears why the federal district court ought not- to wait and rely on the record made in the state proceedings. Cf. Garrett v. Swenson, 459 F.2d 464 (8th Cir. 1972).
However, while this particular petitioner will have exhausted his state remedies for challenged prior convictions, other § 2255 petitions in this circuit present the likelihood of multiple hearings in federal and state courts when a prisoner claims that his federal sentence has been enhanced by the sentencing judge’s consideration of one or more uncounseled (and therefore invalid) prior state convictions. In denying the petition in the first instance because the prisoner has failed to exhaust state remedies, the federal court action puts the prisoner on a treadmill of seeking a state court hearing on the validity of state convictions, the sentences for which may have already been served. Even if the prisoner obtains a state adjudication of invalidity, his efforts may have been in vain, for the federal court remains free to deny relief on the basis that the sentence would have been the same without consideration of the invalid state convictions. See Peterson v. United States, 493 F.2d 478 (8th Cir. 1974); McAnulty v. United States, 469 F.2d 254 (8th Cir. 1972), *927cert. denied, 411 U.S. 949, 93 S.Ct. 1933, 36 L.Ed.2d 41 (1973).
Most circuits do not require exhaustion of state remedies for the prior convictions. See Lipscomb v. Clark, 468 F.2d 1321 (5th Cir. 1972); United States v. Sawaya, 486 F.2d 890 (1st Cir. 1973); Crovedi v. United States, 517 F.2d 541 (7th Cir. 1975); United States v. Walters, 526 F.2d 359 (3d Cir. 1975) (§ 2254 case).
Judge Thornberry of the Fifth Circuit has succinctly explained why an exhaustion requirement should not be applied to the prior state convictions under attack:
A requirement of exhaustion of collateral attack remedies in the state and federal courts where prior convictions were obtained would erect an insuperable barrier to effective implementation of the Tucker rule. * * * The instant case is illustrative. In order to press his collateral attack under § 2255, the indigent, incarcerated appellant would be required first to undertake three other collateral attacks on prior convictions in other forums. The number of proceedings, the problems surrounding appointment of counsel for each of them, and the expenses involved would be multiplied many times. A ruling on the § 2255 motion would be long delayed. The chances that appellant would ultimately succeed in the § 2255 proceeding, even if his claim is meritorious, would as a practical matter be greatly diminished. Exhaustion of the movant, rather than exhaustion of other collateral attack possibilities, would be the likely result. We do not believe Tucker contemplated or is consistent with the creation of this type of procedural obstacle course. [Mitchell v. United States, 482 F.2d 289, 293-94 (5th Cir. 1973).]
As the majority opinion notes, we have adopted a contrary rule in similar § 2255 cases. Young v. United States, 485 F.2d 292, 294 (8th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 971, 94 S.Ct. 1995, 40 L.Ed.2d 560 (1974); Ryan v. United States, 485 F.2d 295, 296 (8th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 979, 94 S.Ct. 1568, 39 L.Ed.2d 876 (1974). (In both cases the exhaustion requirement was an alternative ground for the court’s holding). Young cited the exhaustion requirement enunciated by the Fourth Circuit in Brown v. United States, 483 F.2d 116 (4th Cir. 1973); however, the precedential value of this case is somewhat doubtful in light of Judge Craven’s dissent in Brown and the absence of any discussion of an exhaustion requirement in a subsequent Fourth Circuit § 2255 case, heard en banc, Stepheney v. United States, 516 F.2d 7 (4th Cir. 1975).
I do not believe that we should add to the confusion in the law by reiterating an exhaustion doctrine, which now seems discredited.