Edwards v. Squier, 12339.

• Decision Date: 12 December 1949
• Docket Number: No. 12339.,12339.
• Parties: EDWARDS v. SQUIER, Warden.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

178 F.2d 758 (1949)

EDWARDS v. SQUIER, Warden.

No. 12339.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

December 12, 1949.

John C. Edwards, in propria persona, for appellant.

J. Charles Dennis, U. S. Attorney, Guy A. B. Dovell, Asst. U. S. Attorney, Tacoma, Washington, for appellee.

Before DENMAN, Chief Judge, and POPE and ORR, Circuit Judges.

DENMAN, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment dismissing appellant's proceeding in habeas corpus on the ground that it alleged no ground for granting the writ. Appellant contends that he pleaded guilty to and was sentenced to consecutive sentences on two charges of an information which on their face were so diverse in character that they could not be charged in the same information within the provisions of Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.A., as follows:

"(a) Joinder of Offenses. Two or more offenses may be charged in the same indictment or information in a separate count for each offense if the offenses charged, whether felonies or misdemeanors or both, are of the same or similar character or are based on the same act or transaction or on two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan."

One of the charges was a violation of the Motor Vehicle Theft Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 408 now §§ 2311-2313, and the other a violation of the National Stolen Property Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 415 now § 2314. The findings of the judgment are:

"It is adjudged that the defendant has been convicted upon his plea of guilty of the offense of Violation of T. 18, USCA, 408, 415 (National Motor Vehicle Theft Act and Nat'l Stolen Property Act), in that on Mar. 16, 1947, defendant transported a stolen motor vehicle from Houston, Texas, to Sacramento, California, knowing said motor vehicle had been stolen, (Count One)

"That on March 16, 1947, defendant transported in interstate commerce securities of the approximate value of $22,625.00, which had heretofore been stolen on Feb. 22, 1947, at Houston, Texas, from Mrs. Martha Marian Koch, etc. (Count Two) as charged in counts 1 and 2 of the Information, * * *."

While it is difficult to conceive that on the same day the defendant in Houston, Texas, could transport in separate transactions the stolen securities in interstate commerce and begin the transport of a stolen automobile from there to Sacramento, California, we assume that the two transports were separate transactions.

The question remains whether...