Court Opinion

ID: 9443590
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 19:25:23.457804+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:32.687052
License: Public Domain

WASHINGTON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I agree that appellant’s first motion to vacate sentence was properly denied: on no realistic basis could it be .said that he had begun to serve his term at the time the corrected sentence was imposed. His second- motion to vacate raises a much more serious question..
An accused is in-special need of the aid of counsel at the time he is sentenced. In this case, Walton’s counsel was-present at the pronouncement of the original sentence, after having made a strong plea in behalf of his client. He left the courtroom when Walton was removed, no doubt content with the sentence imposed. Shortly after, Walton was brought back and the heavier sentence- was meted out, counsel being absent, On the present, record, I am not .satisfied that no detriment resulted. True, if -counsel had been present, it is unlikely that he could have succeeded in persuading the court to adhere to the original ruling. But at least he would have been in a position to take without delay, in the light of the new sentence, any further steps he thought might advance his client’s interests, including, .it may be, the filing of an appeal.1
These happenings do not of themselves .entitle Walton to-his freedom. But I .think he is. entitled, even at, this, late date, to be brought before the trial court, accompanied by counsel, for imposition of a new sen*21tence. See Martin v. United States, 5 Cir., 1950, 182 F.2d 225, 20 A.L.R.2d 1236, certiorari denied 340 U.S. 892, 71 S.Ct. 200, 95 L.Ed. 647; Howell v. United States, 4 Cir., 1949, 172 F.2d 213, certiorari denied 337 U.S. 906, 69 S.Ct. 1048, 93 L.Ed. 1718. Cf. Evans v. Rives, 1942, 75 U.S.App.D.C. 242, 126 F.2d 633; see generally Annotation, 20 A.L.R.2d 1240. Counsel could at that time advance a plea for leniency. While such a plea might be fruitless, that is no reason for not letting it be made.

. Compare Rule 37(a) (2), Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.: “When a court after trial imposes sentence upon a defendant not represented by counsel, ' the- defendant- shall be advised f his right to appsul. * * * ” Nothing of the sort was done here.