Long v. Robinson

• Decision Date: 18 January 1971
• Docket Number: No. 15033.,15033.
• Parties: Ronald Lee LONG, a minor, by Lewis Daniel Long, his father and next friend, and James Brooks, Jr., a minor, by Lillian Brooks, his mother and next friend, individually and on behalf of all other minor children similarly situated, Robert D. Neal, minor, by Annie Neal, his mother and next friend, Appellees, v. Honorable Jerome ROBINSON, Associate Judge, Municipal Court of Baltimore City and State of Maryland, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

436 F.2d 1116 (1971)

Ronald Lee LONG, a minor, by Lewis Daniel Long, his father and next friend, and James Brooks, Jr., a minor, by Lillian Brooks, his mother and next friend, individually and on behalf of all other minor children similarly situated, Robert D. Neal, minor, by Annie Neal, his mother and next friend, Appellees, v. Honorable Jerome ROBINSON, Associate Judge, Municipal Court of Baltimore City and State of Maryland, Appellants.

No. 15033.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued September 17, 1970.

Decided January 18, 1971.

Alfred J. O'Ferrall, III, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Francis B. Burch, Atty. Gen., of Maryland, Edward F. Borgerding, and Robert A. DiCicco, Asst. Attys. Gen., on the brief) for appellants.

Joseph A. Matera, Baltimore, Md., (Michael Millemann, Baltimore, Md., on the brief) for appellees Ronald Lee Long and James Brooks, Jr., Peter S. Smith, Edwin Villmoare, and Piper & Marbury, Baltimore, Md. (on the brief) for appellee-intervenor Robert D. Neal.

Before BOREMAN, BRYAN and CRAVEN, Circuit Judges.

BOREMAN, Circuit Judge:

The named plaintiffs below (appellees here), who were sixteen years of age at the time of the institution of this litigation, were facing prosecution as adults in Baltimore City for crimes allegedly committed therein. Their complaint requested a declaratory judgment declaring unconstitutional the provisions of Article 4, section 240(b), of the Charter and Public Local Laws of Baltimore City which fixed a juvenile age limit of sixteen years, and that portion of Article 26, sections 51-71, of the Maryland Code of Public and General Laws, exempting Baltimore City from the general statewide juvenile age limit of eighteen years. In addition, the complaint requested an injunction enjoining defendants below (appellants here) from enforcing these laws and an order requiring defendants to expunge all records relating to the arrest of, and criminal charges in Baltimore City against, plaintiffs and the class they represent.

The plaintiffs, by next friends, sued on their own behalf and on behalf of persons similarly situated between the ages of sixteen and eighteen who have been and/or may be charged as adults in Baltimore City for violations of criminal laws and who would have been treated as juveniles under the age of eighteen if charged with similar crimes allegedly committed outside the City of Baltimore. Plaintiffs assert that since persons sixteen and seventeen years old are treated as juveniles in all circuit courts in Maryland except Baltimore City and since plaintiffs are here charged as adults in Baltimore City with the commission of offenses which would come within the jurisdiction of juvenile courts if committed by them in Maryland outside of Baltimore City, they, plaintiffs, are being denied their constitutional rights to equal protection and due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The district court declared that the laws under attack are unconstitutional. However, the prayer for an injunction was denied upon the assumption that the decision of the court would be followed unless and until reversed on appeal and that no order of restraint was needed. We affirm the holding of unconstitutionality of the laws in question¹ on the opinion of the district court reported at 316 F.Supp. 22 (D. Md.1970).

The remaining question for determination is as to the persons to whom this decision should apply. The district court limited the applicability of its decision to "all cases not finally decided on May 15, 1969, the date of the filing of this suit." In footnote 8 of its opinion, the court explained that "a case is `finally decided' when the time for direct appeal expires without appeal having been taken, or if direct appeal has been taken and decision rendered, the date on which certiorari was denied or on which the time to apply for certiorari expired without such an application having been made." Both plaintiffs and defendants challenge the court's adoption of this date. Defendants insist that the decision should be applied prospectively only, i. e., to cases handled after the date of final decision by this court. Plaintiffs argue that the decision should be made retroactively applicable to the time when a disparity was created in juvenile ages as between Baltimore City and the rest of the State of Maryland.²

Although the district court used the term "Retroactivity" to designate the section of its opinion in which it determined the effective date of the decision as May 15, 1969, we think the issue is simply: what persons are proper members of the class entitled to representation by plaintiffs?

As earlier shown herein, in their complaint plaintiffs sought: (1) a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting, restraining and enjoining application of the laws under attack; (2) a declaratory judgment declaring unconstitutional the laws in question; and (3) an order requiring defendants to expunge all records relating to the arrest of plaintiffs and the class they represent and records relating to criminal charges against them, as adults, in Baltimore City. The district court declared the challenged laws unconstitutional but, instead of issuing an injunction and an expunging order, relied upon the good faith of defendants to refrain from applying the unconstitutional juvenile laws and upon counsel to formulate and adopt a suitable method of expunging records where appropriate.

It is apparent that the district court, notwithstanding its "Retroactivity" characterization, was aware that this case involves not merely one class, but two separate and distinct classes, i. e., persons whose convictions had become final and those whose convictions had not become final.

We think it is clear that, in class actions involving a challenge to substantive or procedural questions of criminal law, one whose conviction has not become final may not properly claim to represent, as a class, those whose convictions have become final as is here attempted. The members of these two distinct classes stand in different positions and must necessarily seek different remedies; their claims for relief will be addressed to different officials serving in different capacities and will be subject to different defenses. Normally, those whose convictions have become "final" have served their sentences, are on probation or are presently incarcerated. Those who are presently incarcerated may use the civil process of habeas corpus to seek their release from the custody of prison officials. Those whose convictions have become final must seek wholly retrospective relief, i. e., a determination that the declaratory judgment of unconstitutionality is to be applied retroactively to strike down their final convictions and to erase and destroy the records of their convictions...