Court Opinion

ID: 9732528
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:24:10.595238+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:28.934351
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
By Memorandum and Order filed in this action on January 7, 1971, petitioner’s application, made pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, to vacate the judgment of conviction and sentence imposed upon him on November 10, 1966, in Criminal Action No. 120-66, was denied. A notice of appeal from this determination was filed with the Clerk of the Court on January 21, 1971.
On February 9, 1971, petitioner filed with the Clerk a motion for rehearing only with respect to “point one” of his original application, and in connection therewith requested that the record in his case not be sent to the Court of Appeals pending decision on said motion. The “point one” referred to by petitioner was based on the claim that his arrest was effected without a warrant or probable cause. On February 17, petitioner filed another motion, supplementing and amending his first motion for a rehearing. This second motion expands petitioner’s argument that his arrest was illegal. He also, with changes in verbiage that do not affect substance, asks for a reconsideration of the several grounds that were urged for relief in the original application.
Just prior to the time petitioner’s second motion came to the Court’s attention, a Memorandum and Order had already been prepared, denying relief on the illegal arrest issue. A copy of that Memorandum and Order is annexed hereto and made part hereof. The Court has again patiently reviewed the record in this case in light of petitioner’s motions. There is no basis in fact or in law that would justify a change in any of the conclusions reached by the Court as to any of the grounds urged by petitioner for relief.
For the reasons stated in the Memorandum and Order filed in this action on January 7, 1971, as supplemented by this memorandum, petitioner’s motions for rehearing should be denied, and it is so
Ordered, this 24th day of February, 1971. And the Court certifies there is no probable cause for an appeal.
ON SECOND MOTION FOR REHEARING
By Memorandum and Order filed in this action on January 7, 1971, petition*17er’s application, made pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, to vacate the judgment of conviction and sentence imposed upon him on November 10, 1966 in Criminal Action No. 120-66, was denied. A notice of appeal from this determination was filed with the Clerk of the Court on January 21, 1971.
On February 9, 1971, petitioner filed with the Clerk a motion for rehearing as to “point one” of his original application, coupled with the request that the record in his case not be sent to the Court of Appeals pending decision on said motion.
The “point one” referred to by petitioner was based on the claim that his arrest was effected without a warrant or probable cause. Attached to petitioner’s motion papers are copies of the complaint filed with the United States Commissioner on March 9, 1966, and the warrant for petitioner’s arrest issued and executed on the same date. Petitioner was indicted for bank robbery on March 23, 1966. For the reasons stated in the Memorandum filed in this action on January 7, 1971, the motion for rehearing will be denied. Even if it be assumed that petitioner’s arrest was illegal, that fact, standing alone, would not be sufficient to void his conviction. In addition to the federal cases cited in the aforementioned Memorandum, see also Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ex rel. Craig v. Maroney, 348 F.2d 22, 28 (3 Cir. 1965) and United States of America, ex rel. Bishop v. Rundle, 437 F.2d 204 (3 Cir. 1971). Once more it must be stressed that a careful examination of the trial record in this case conclusively shows that the alleged illegal arrest and detention of petitioner in no way affected the fairness of petitioner’s trial or deprived him of any constitutional safeguards.
The motion for rehearing is hereby denied.
SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION
In furtherance of his motions for a rehearing in this case, denied by Memorandum and Order filed February 24, 1971, petitioner has now filed, for the Court’s consideration, two affidavits made by fellow inmates. These affidavits, says petitioner, are submitted as further proof “of the prejudicial effects the illegal arrest and denial of a preliminary examination” had on his trial and conviction.
The first affidavit, by one James C. Chester, refers to a conversation he overheard between Harold Howard (one of the bank robbers indicted with petitioner) and a woman who visited him in the detention pen in Newark. Howard is alleged to have told the woman that he had been “crossed” by the United States Attorney in that he did not receive the 5 year sentence that had been promised him by that individual, but instead received an 8 year sentence. The affidavit then goes on to say that after Howard’s visitor left, the affiant asked Howard what had happened. Howard is alleged to have told the affiant about a promise made to him by the United States Attorney that if he, Howard, would testify for the Government and implicate petitioner in the bank robbery, the United States Attorney would recommend to the Judge a 5 year sentence, and that the United States Attorney failed to do so.
This whole matter of an alleged deal between Howard and the Government was thoroughly explored at the trial of the case, as were the circumstances surrounding Howard’s implication of petitioner in the commission of the bank robbery and the reasons therefor. See pp. 5, 6 of Memorandum and Order filed in this action on January 7, 1971. The Chester affidavit adds nothing new to the case and is of no legal significance.
The second affidavit, by one Robert Paul Edwards, is likewise of no value to petitioner. The bank robbery in this case took place on March 9, 1966, between 9:00 and 9:15 A.M. The gist of the Edwards affidavit is that the affiant greeted petitioner at about 8:55 A.M. on March 9, as he was about to enter a building housing a pool room, and that he again spoke to petitioner when the latter left the building at about 9:15 to 9:20 A.M. This affidavit, if *18believed, represents but a tiny bit of cumulative testimony on a phase of the case that was fully developed at the trial. The testimony of a number of witnesses called by petitioner, including his two sisters, attempted to establish an alibi for him or to create doubt that he was one of the bank robbers. See references to the testimony of Boone, Hobson and Christinizio in the Memorandum and Order filed in this action on January 7, 1971.
For the reasons stated herein, the Court finds that the affidavits of James C. Chester and Robert Paul Edwards, submitted by petitioner in support of his motions for a rehearing, are legally insufficient to warrant any change in the decision heretofore reached that the motions for rehearing be denied.
It is, therefore, on this 26th day of February, 1971,
Ordered, that this Court’s order of February 24, 1971, denying petitioner’s motions for a rehearing in this case, be and the same hereby is, affirmed.