United States v. Coefield

• Decision Date: 06 February 1973
• Docket Number: No. 24085.,24085.
• Citation: 476 F.2d 1152,155 US App. DC 205
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. William T. COEFIELD, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

155 US App. DC 205, 476 F.2d 1152 (1973)

UNITED STATES of America v. William T. COEFIELD, Appellant.

No. 24085.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

February 6, 1973.

Marilyn Cohen, Washington, D. C., for appellant. Neal M. Mayer, Washington, D. C. (appointed by this court) also argued for appellant.

Brian W. Shaughnessy, Asst. U. S. Atty., for appellee. Charles H. Roistacher, Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom Thomas A. Flannery, U. S. Atty. at the time the brief was filed, and John A. Terry, Asst. U. S. Atty., were on the brief, also argued for appellee. John S. Ransom, Asst. U. S. Atty., also entered an appearance for appellee.

Before BAZELON, Chief Judge, FAHY, Senior Circuit Judge, and WRIGHT, McGOWAN, TAMM, LEVENTHAL, ROBINSON, MacKINNON, ROBB and WILKEY, Circuit Judges, sitting en banc.

FAHY, Senior Circuit Judge:

The appeal is from a judgment of conviction of robbery in violation of 22 D.C. Code § 2901 (1967), as amended, (Supp. V, 1972). After the appeal was heard by a division of the court it was reheard by the court en banc to consider important and recurring problems arising from the administration of the Federal Youth Corrections Act. 18 U.S.C. §§ 5005-5026 (1970).

I. APPEAL FROM THE CONVICTION

Appellant testified that he engaged in conversation with two young ladies on the street, who in no way complained of his company as the three walked together toward a bus stop. Indeed, it is not disputed that they exchanged telephone numbers. Both ladies testified that at the bus stop one of the ladies reached into her slacks for bus fare, and when she removed a $10.00 bill, appellant snatched it and ran.¹ Upon conviction of the robbery thus ascribed to appellant he was sentenced to imprisonment of two to six years, to be served consecutively to any sentence then being served.²

Appellant claims on appeal, as he did at trial, of an unnecessarily suggestive photographic identification by the two ladies, from which it is said to follow, under the "poisonous tree" doctrine of Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963), that subsequent lineup and incourt identifications were inadmissible as stemming from the photographic identifications. At the conclusion of a hearing on a motion to suppress the identification evidence, the District Court, we think correctly, ruled that the lineup and in-court identifications were admissible as based on a source independent of the photographic identifications. We accordingly affirm the conviction and turn to consideration of the sentence.

II. CONSIDERATION OF COEFIELD'S POSSIBLE SENTENCE UNDER THE YOUTH CORRECTIONS ACT

Because appellant was 20 years of age at the time of his conviction, a discussion arose at oral argument of the appeal as to a possible remand of the case for reconsideration of the sentence under the Youth Corrections Act. Appellant's counsel was unable then to advise the court as to his client's wishes in that regard. As arranged, however, he filed a memorandum after argument advising the court that appellant was amenable to consideration of his sentence under the Act. The Government in a responding memorandum took the position that a remand was unnecessary, contending that the sentencing court, by imposing an adult sentence consecutive to the other adult sentence of two to six years appellant was already serving, implicitly found that appellant would not derive benefit from a sentence under the Act.

In passing the Youth Corrections Act, Congress provided the federal sentencing judge with four alternatives. The first allows the judge to suspend imposition or execution of sentence entirely and place the youth offender on probation. 18 U.S.C. § 5010(a). The second allows the judge upon finding that the convicted person is a youth offender and that the offense is one punishable by imprisonment under other applicable provisions of law, to sentence the youth offender to the custody of the Attorney General for treatment and supervision in a special youth facility. 18 U.S.C. § 5010(b). Under this alternative, the youth offender must be unconditionally discharged no later than six years after the date of his conviction. 18 U.S.C. § 5017(c). Because the maximum limitation of commitment under the second alternative may not be sufficient time in the judgment of the court for full rehabilitation of the youth offender, the judge may sentence the youth offender to commitment in a youth institution but specify the term, which may exceed six years but may not exceed the maximum period authorized by law for any applicable penalty. 18 U.S.C. § 5010(c). Under the fourth alternative, the court, provided it finds that the youth offender will not derive benefit from treatment by commitment to a youth institution under either the second or third alternatives noted above (18 U.S.C. § 5010(b) or (c)), may sentence him under any other applicable penalty provision. 18 U.S.C. § 5010(d). The court in selecting among these several alternative sentences has available to assist him, and the sentence to be served is subject to, the additional statutory provisions, and operation under them, outlined hereinafter in Part III of this opinion.

Since appellant was not placed on probation, or sentenced under either the second or third alternative above outlined, the question arises whether there has been a finding as required by section 5010(d) that he would not derive benefit from treatment under subsections (b) and (c), resulting in his sentence as an adult under the fourth alternative. In construing section 5010(d) in United States v. Waters, 141 U.S.App.D.C. 289, 291, 437 F.2d 722, 724 (1970), we held:

Under the Youth Corrections Act, § 5010(d), the court must affirmatively find that the youth offender will not benefit from rehabilitative treatment before the offender can be sentenced as an adult pursuant to the statute governing the offense for which he was convicted. (Footnote omitted.) Emphasis in original.

Likewise, in United States v. Ward, 147 U.S.App.D.C. 149, 454 F.2d 992 (1971), in reserving its ruling on appellant Ward's motion for summary reversal, the court remanded the record to the District Court for elucidation of its reasoning why Ward could be denied sentencing under the Act notwithstanding the fact that the sentencing court recommended he be sent to "`an institution where they usually send youth offenders such as Petersburg, Virginia, or some institution of that type.'" 147 U.S.App.D.C. at 151, 454 F.2d at 994.

The purposes of Congress in requiring an affirmative finding under section 5010(d) are explained in Judge Wilkey's opinion for the court in Waters, are restated in Ward, and need not be repeated here at length. We note, however, the recognition that the trial judge retains discretion "to deny such rehabilitative treatment to those youths in the exceptional case where the judge determines that the special youth treatment afforded by the Act would be of no value." 141 U.S.App.D.C. at 291, 437 F.2d at 724. Not only was there no finding of no benefit in Waters, but as in Ward the failure of the sentencing court to sentence under the Act was accompanied by a recommendation based on Waters' youth. Since this was inconsistent with the failure to sentence under the Act, this court required the sentence as an adult to be vacated and the case remanded for resentencing pursuant to the finding requirements of section 5010(d). The court added:

We believe that this discretion of the sentencing court is circumscribed by the findings of fact in the individual case which the District Judge is required to make either explicitly or implicitly.

141 U.S.App.D.C. at 292, 437 F.2d at 725; and see, to like effect, Ward, 147 U.S.App.D.C. at 151, 454 F.2d at 994.

These references to an implicit finding are advanced by the government now to support the adult sentence of Coefield. But the sentencing transcript contains no reference whatever to the Act nor does any reference to it appear in the presentence report submitted to the judge. It would seem, therefore, necessary to remand the case to the District Court for reconsideration of the sentence unless we are to imply the "no benefit" finding. This we are unable to do. In the first place, the record does not support such an implication. The fact that Coefield was already serving an adult sentence not imposed under the Act, does not establish by implication the requisite finding. The papers before us indicate that appellant has been quite successfully serving out his previous sentence, having completed high school equivalency during the sentence, and that he is now participating in a rehabilitative furlough program under which he is released for short periods of time.³ In addition, it appears from the presentence report of the first robbery that prior to sentencing for that offense appellant was confined for at least a part of the time under a program of work release, and responded favorably. From such a record we can draw no clear inference that the trial judge found no benefit. Given Coefield's promising response to the correctional program and his earlier history free of encounters with the law, an equally compelling inference is that the judge failed to consider the Youth Corrections Act. True, Coefield's record is not all favorable, but its hopeful indications strongly suggest that now is hardly the time to place him for two to six more years in an environment where there is greater likelihood that his responsive attitude toward rehabilitation could be reversed. To avoid the "degenerative and needless transformation of many of these young persons into habitual criminals"⁴ is the purpose of the Act. There is an additional reason why the finding of no benefit should not be left to implication, as now set forth in Part III.

III. STANDARDS OF SENTENCING UNDER THE ACT

1. The ambiguity illustrated by the Coefield sentence has led the court en banc to give further...