Court Opinion

ID: 9449007
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 23:52:44.58773+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:39.104275
License: Public Domain

KNOCH, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I agree with the majority of this Court in affirming the underlying judgment of conviction in this case. I am, however, unable to agree that the District Court erred in denying petitioner’s motion to vacate the sentence.
It may well be the better practice in some instances to produce the defendant in court when the sentence previously imposed is to be modified in accordance with the provisions of Title 18, U.S.C. § 4208 (b). For example, where the Court is going to grant probation, personal instruction may be required properly to impress the defendant with the serious nature of probation and the grave consequences of violating its rules and provisions.
However, this question must be a matter for the Trial Judge’s sound discretion in the light of the circumstances of a particular case. It is not an essential for due process.
In the matter before us, the defendant and his counsel were afforded the usual right of allocution at the time that the original sentence was imposed. That was defendant’s opportunity to present all matters in mitigation. The fact that trial tactics might be better served by presenting, or repeating, these matters at a later time should not alter procedures. Neither should the fact that the Trial Judge may later modify the sentence originally imposed, after consideration of information to be acquired from another source. The procedure under Title 18, U.S.C., § 4208(b) is analogous to that under Rule 35, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The sentence cannot be increased. It can only be left unmodified or reduced.
In the matter before us, the disposition of the case, made while the defendant was present in open court, left open only one question. That question was to be resolved through medical examination, over a period of time, by competent authorities who were to report their findings to the Court. There was no need to consult the defendant; there was no need for the defendant to be present in court. This was solely a matter for the Judge’s consideration of the expert medical advice he was to receive.
Unnecessary transfer of prisoners multiplies opportunities for escape and has upon occasion created serious dangers not only to those charged with the care of the prisoner but to the public at large. Transfer away from the institution of confinement should be employed only when important rights of the prisoner demand it.
*228With the flood of correspondence which reaches judges from the penal institutions, at every conceivable provocation, it would appear that a defendant might communicate by mail if there were any particular matters to which he wished to invite the Trial Judge’s attention in connection with the report which he knew was being prepared.
Unlike the majority, I find the Corey case persuasive. I am convinced that extension of the time for appeal is not contemplated by the statute.