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Arthur N. REED, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent-Appellee

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit1973-01-09No. No. 72-1711
471 F.2d 721

Summary

Holding. The appellate court reversed the district court's denial of Reed's motion to vacate and remanded the case for new proceedings, finding that the trial court violated Rule 11 by accepting a guilty plea without establishing an independent factual basis on the record and that the appeal was not moot despite Reed's release on parole.

Arthur Reed pleaded guilty in 1969 to transporting altered securities across state lines and received an eight-year sentence. He later filed a motion to vacate his conviction, arguing that the trial court violated Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by failing to establish an independent factual basis for his guilty plea and by not confirming that he understood the consequences of pleading guilty. The record from the guilty plea hearing contained no evidence that the trial judge made any inquiry into whether Reed actually committed the alleged acts.

The government conceded that Rule 11 was violated but argued the appeal was moot because Reed had been released from prison on parole before the appeal was decided. The court rejected the mootness argument, holding that a defendant who files a motion while incarcerated maintains standing even if released before the court rules, particularly when parole supervision remains in effect. Because the trial court record completely lacked any factual basis for accepting the guilty plea, the conviction could not stand.

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

Key issues

  • Validity of guilty plea under Rule 11 when trial court fails to establish factual basis
  • Whether appeal becomes moot when defendant is released on parole before decision
  • Whether defendant has standing to challenge conviction while under parole supervision

Procedural posture

Reed appealed the district court's denial of his second motion to vacate his conviction under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, challenging the validity of his guilty plea on Rule 11 grounds.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM:

The district court has denied Arthur Reed’s second motion to vacate his criminal conviction and sentence for transporting altered securities in interstate commerce, and he appeals. Finding that the .court below erred in refusing to grant the relief sought, we reverse and remand.

On October 14, 1969, the appellant entered a plea of guilty , to one count of a three-count indictment charging violations of 18 U.S.C. § 2314, and was sentenced on December 9, 1969, to serve an eight-year sentence. He now attacks the validity of his conviction on the basis of the trial court’s failure to comply with Rule 11, F.R.Cr.P. The appellant contends that his guilty plea was invalid because the court did not ascertain whether there was a factual basis for it, nor did it determine that he understood the consequences of his plea.

McCarthy v. United States, 1969, 394 U.S. 459, 89 S.Ct. 1166, 22 L.Ed.2d 418, has made it clear that a plea of guilty cannot be accepted unless the court has made a determination, independently of the allegations contained in the indictment, that a factual basis exists for the defendant’s acknowledgement of his guilt. McCarthy further requires that this “factual basis” be contained in the record itself.

In the present case, the transcript of the proceedings in which the appellant pleaded guilty, reveals that no attempt whatsoever was made by the court to determine whether Reed had actually done the acts comprising the offense set forth in the indictment.

In view of the failure of the district court to call for a response to the appellant’s motion to vacate, and the total lack of support in the record for that court’s ruling, this Court requested the United States Attorney to brief the issues raised below. In that brief the appellee concedes that Rule 11 was not complied with by the trial court, but argues that the issue is moot due to the appellant’s release from prison on April 10, 1972.

The § 2255 petition was filed on November 22, 1971. While § 2255 relief is not available to a person filing a motion to vacate after the complained-of sentence has completely expired, it is well settled that if one is imprisoned at the time of the original filing of the motion, and released before determination thereof, the cause of action does not become moot. Carafas v. LaVallee, 1968, 391 U.S. 234, 88 S.Ct. 1556, 20 L.Ed.2d 554; Hemming v. United States, 5th Cir. 1969, 409 F.2d 11; Castle v. United States, 5th Cir. 1969, 399 F.2d 642. See McDaniel v. Sheriff of Dallas County, 5th Cir. 1971, 445 F.2d 851. Moreover, a person “in custody”, as contemplated by 28 U.S.C. § 2255, is not necessarily one within the confines of a penal institution. Since Appellant Reed was released from prison having served less than three years on an eight-year sentence, it is obvious that he is and will be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States Board of Parole for some years to come. Thus he is still under restraints emanating from the challenged conviction, and has the requisite standing to maintain this action. Carafas v. LaVallee, supra; see Forbes v. Wainwright, 5th Cir. 1970, 425 F.2d 724.

Having concluded that this appeal is not moot, as urged by the appellee, and that the record is devoid of any facts upon which the trial court could have validly concluded that there was a basis for the plea, the plea must be set aside, and the appellant allowed to plead anew. Gilbert v. United States, 5th Cir. 1972, 466 F.2d 533; Cooks v. United States, 5th Cir. 1972, 461 F.2d 530; United States v. Frontero, 5th Cir. 1971, 452 F.2d 406.

The judgment appealed from is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Reversed and remanded.

. The case was originally referred to this panel for summary disposition in accordance with Local Rule 9 (c) (2) due to the appellant’s failure to file a brief within the time fixed by Rule 31, F.R.A.P. Subsequent to the filing of the appellee’s brief, a brief on behalf of the appellant was filed. We therefore dispose of the appeal under Local Rule 18.

. In view of our holding that the record shows no factual basis for the acceptance of the guilty plea, we deem it unnecessary to rule upon the appellant’s contention that his plea was induced by the trial judge’s representations that he would be sentenced under the Youth Corrections Act rather than as an adult offender in exchange for the guilty plea. Similarly, we need not rule on his allegation that he was denied counsel during his sentencing proceedings.