Long v. United States
| Decision Date | 21 May 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 16741.,16741. |
| Parties | Eugene Wendell LONG, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Marvin D. Morgenstein, San Francisco, Cal., for appellant.
Laughlin E. Waters, U. S. Atty., Thomas R. Sheridan, Asst. U. S. Atty., Edward M. Medvene, Asst. U. S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for appellee.
Before CHAMBERS, HAMLIN and MERRILL, Circuit Judges.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, appellant seeks to set aside his sentence of imprisonment. The sentence resulted from a plea of guilty to a charge of the sale of heroin contrary to 26 U.S.C. §§ 4705(a) and 7237.
Appellant's motion was made upon the ground that his plea was not voluntary. Following hearing the District Court ruled that it was voluntary. The motion was denied and this appeal followed.
On December 29, 1958, Long, represented by counsel, pleaded not guilty to all four counts of an indictment charging him with conspiracy to sell and the actual sale of heroin. On February 2, 1959, a jury was impaneled in his case. On February 5, 1959, he withdrew his plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment. The plea was accepted and on March 1, 1959, despite the fact that his counsel had pleaded for minimum sentence and government counsel had made no recommendation as to sentence, Long was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of fifteen years. Several letters were subsequently written by him to the trial judge in an effort to have his sentence reduced. No mention was made in any letter of any inducement having been offered to him for a plea of guilty.
At the District Court hearing on the instant matter Long's attorney testified as to his conferences with Long respecting a change of plea. He testified that he had advised Long that there was no merit to any defense in the light of the facts of the case; that he had stated to Long that he had conferred with government counsel with reference to a change of plea and had been advised that upon a plea of guilty the United States would not recommend minimum sentence but would not oppose it (government counsel denied having stated that he would not oppose minimum sentence); that he had advised that in any event nothing said by government counsel would be binding upon the court. Long conceded that he had been fully advised by his counsel as to his rights and as to the consequences of a change of plea and as to the limits...
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