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Howard Oren ADKINS, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit1962-02-02No. No. 16972
298 F.2d 842

Summary

Holding. The court dismissed the appeal as frivolous. The defendant's guilty plea was voluntary and informed based on the record, no formal judicial finding on voluntariness was required by rule, a guilty plea admits all essential elements of the offense, and alleged detention irregularities cannot serve as grounds for collateral attack after a guilty plea.

Adkins pleaded guilty through counsel to two counts of counterfeiting federal currency and was sentenced to five concurrent years of imprisonment. He later filed a collateral attack motion seeking to vacate his sentences, arguing that the trial court failed to make a formal finding that his plea was voluntary and that he understood the charges, that no evidence was presented to support the crimes, and that he was improperly detained before arraignment. The court rejected all three arguments, finding that the record demonstrated his plea was in fact voluntary and informed, that a guilty plea itself constitutes admission of all essential elements requiring no further government proof, and that irregularities in arrest and detention cannot support collateral attack after a guilty plea.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether trial court must make formal finding of voluntary plea and understanding of charges
  • Whether guilty plea requires independent government evidence of crime elements
  • Whether detention irregularities support collateral attack after guilty plea

Procedural posture

Appellant appealed from denial of his motion under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 to vacate sentences imposed following a guilty plea.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

Appellant, through appointed counsel, pleaded guilty to an information in two counts charging him with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 472, (1) in uttering a counterfeited Federal Reserve Note, and (2) in possessing and concealing five other counterfeited Federal Reserve Notes. He was convicted on his plea and was sentenced to imprisonment for five years on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Thereafter he filed a motion under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255, to have the sentences vacated on the grounds (1) that the court failed to determine that the plea was made voluntarily with understanding of the nature of the charge; (2) that there was no evidence before the court to show that the crimes had been committed; and (3) that he had been improperly held in the city jail at St. Louis, Missouri, for 65 hours prior to being taken before a United States Commissioner. The court denied the motion without a hearing.

The transcripts of the arraignment proceeding and of the sentencing proceeding are both contained in the files and records. They clearly demonstrate that the entry of a plea of guilty in appellant’s behalf by his counsel was with voluntariness on the part of appellant and with understanding by him of the nature of the charge. Among other things, the transcripts show that appellant had had an almost continuous history of criminal charges, convictions and sentences against him since 1947. He was experienced in the entry of pleas of guilty. In this situation, the statement of his counsel that appellant had been advised of the nature of the charges against him and of his rights , in relation thereto manifestly was not mere jargon to him. There was persuasive basis for the court to resolve at the time that the plea of guilty was made voluntarily with understanding of the nature of the charge.

As a matter of fact, appellant’s contention here appears not so much to be that his plea had not been made voluntarily and with understanding of the nature of the charge, but rather that his conviction was legally invalid because the court failed to make a formal finding and recitation at the time that it was satisfied this was the fact.

The provision of Rule 11, Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.A., that, on a plea of guilty being made, the court "shall not accept the plea without first determining that the plea is made voluntarily with understanding of the nature of the charge”, imposes on the court the responsibility of making certain that these conditions exist, but there is no requirement that the court must enter a formal finding or recitation to this effect.

As to appellant’s second and third contentions, these are without substance for collateral attack upon his sentence. A plea of guilty is an admission of all the essential elements of an information or indictment so that no other proof on the part of the Government is necessary for a judgment of conviction. Harris v. United States, 8 Cir., 288 F.2d 790; Bartholomew v. United States, 8 Cir., 286 F.2d 779; Heideman v. United States, 8 Cir., 281 F.2d 805. Again, delay in taking a prisoner before a Commissioner is not a basis for collateral attack upon a judgment of conviction. Further, when a prisoner pleads guilty to an offense, he thereby waives the significance of any irregularities in his arrest and previous restraint.

To clear the records of the appeal pending from appellant’s notice of appeal, the case will be permitted to be docketed without payment of fee, and it will thereupon be dismissed as frivolous.

Appeal dismissed.