Powers v. United States
| Decision Date | 18 December 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 72-3221 Summary Calendar.,72-3221 Summary Calendar. |
| Citation | 470 F.2d 991 |
| Parties | Bobby Ray POWERS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Bobby Powers, pro se.
William S. Sessions, U. S. Atty., San Antonio, Tex., Ronald F. Ederer, Asst. U. S. Atty., El Paso, Tex., for respondent-appellee.
Before WISDOM, GODBOLD and RONEY, Circuit Judges.
Appellant pleaded guilty to Count Two of an indictment containing two numbered paragraphs. Paragraph 1 charged a co-defendant, Sanchez, with possession of counterfeit bills in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 472. Paragraph 2 charged appellant and others with aiding and abetting the offense described in paragraph 1 in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2, the aider and abettor statute. Appellant was sentenced to six years, subject to 18 U.S.C. § 4208(a)(2).
By a § 2255 motion Powers seeks to have his sentence reduced on the theory he has been convicted and sentenced as both a principal and aider and abettor of the same offense. This is wholly without merit. The indictment charged him with only one offense. 18 U.S.C. § 2 does not define a crime but merely makes punishable as a principal one who aids and abets another in the commission of a substantive crime. United States v. Campbell, 426 F.2d 547 (2d Cir. 1970). The sentence given appellant was well within the maximum of 15 years which he could have received.
Appellant claims that the records of parole authorities show him to be guilty of two offenses, one as principal and the other as aider and abettor, which might impose an obstacle to his chances for parole. While we doubt his conclusory allegation, if any such misapprehension should arise appellant can remedy it by furnishing to the authorities a copy of this opinion confirming that he has been convicted of only a single offense.
Affirmed.
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U.S. v. Cowart
...but merely makes punishable as a principal one who aids or abets another in the commission of a substantive offense. Powers v. United States, 470 F.2d 991 (5th Cir. 1972). There can be no violation of section 2 alone; an indictment under this section must be accompanied by an indictment for......
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U.S. v. Oates
...the commission of that offense. We rejected this argument, explaining, as have other circuits, see, e.g., Powers v. United States, 470 F.2d 991 (5th Cir. 1972) (per curiam), that "18 U.S.C. § 2 does not define a crime; rather it makes punishable as a principal one who aids or abets the comm......
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U.S. v. Masson, 78-5002
...aid and abet the commission of some substantive offense in order to be punishable as a principal under 18 U.S.C. § 2. Powers v. United States, 5 Cir. 1972, 470 F.2d 991; United States v. Campbell, 2 Cir. 1970, 426 F.2d 547, 553. Second, an aider and abettor may be charged as a principal, an......
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U.S. v. Walker
...one who aids or abets the commission of a substantive crime. United States v. Cowart, 595 F.2d 1023 (5th Cir. 1979); Powers v. United States, 470 F.2d 991 (5th Cir. 1972). Appellant seeks to distinguish these cases, urging that he was charged not as a principal, but as a conspirator in a co......