Rini v. Katzenbach
Decision Date | 06 March 1967 |
Docket Number | No. 15674.,15674. |
Citation | 374 F.2d 836 |
Parties | James V. RINI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Nicholas KATZENBACH, United States Attorney General, Defendant-Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Raymond F. Drexler, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Edward V. Hanrahan, U. S. Atty., Roger J. Balla, Asst. U. S. Atty., Chicago, Ill., John Peter Lulinski, Asst. U. S. Atty., of counsel, for appellee.
Before HASTINGS, Chief Judge, and KNOCH and CUMMINGS, Circuit Judges.
In July 1960, appellant James V. Rini pleaded guilty to an indictment for robbing a bank in Indiana in violation of Section 2113(a) and (d) of the Criminal Code (18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) and (d)). Rini received a 17-year federal sentence to run concurrently with sentences imposed upon him by the State of Illinois in nine 1957 and 1958 cases. 14 years of the state sentences then remained to be served. We are advised that the Indiana bank robbery occurred during petitioner's Illinois parole, causing its revocation. He is therefore still serving his state sentences in the Illinois penitentiary in Joliet.
Rini did not appeal from his federal sentence. However, in October 1965, he filed a motion under Section 2255 of the Judicial Code (28 U.S.C. § 2255) attacking his federal sentence. The gravamen of his motion was that he was arraigned, tried and sentenced on a plea of guilty under Rule 20 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure without the benefit of counsel. The Government's response to Rini's motion was that he is not yet in federal custody, precluding any relief under Section 2255 of the Judicial Code. The District Court agreed and found that it lacked jurisdiction. Therefore, it denied the Section 2255 motion and the related habeas corpus petition for the production of Rini for the hearing of his motion. This appeal in forma pauperis followed, but the appeal does not question the propriety of the denial of the habeas corpus petition. After the District Court declined to do so, this Court appointed counsel to assist Rini in his appeal. Until then, he had been without counsel in the Section 2255 proceedings and in the 1960 District Court proceedings.
The Government argues that the District Court had no jurisdiction to determine Rini's claim for relief, on the ground that he is still in state custody under sentences imposed on him by the Criminal Court of Cook County rather than "in custody under sentence of a court established by Act of Congress" as required by Section 2255 of the Judicial Code.1 It is true that Rini's motion for relief is on a mimeographed form provided for Section 2255 motions in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. However, the motion was prepared by Rini, who assertedly had only a third grade education, without the benefit of counsel. In the interest of justice, we shall treat the motion as one for a writ of error coram nobis under the All Writs Act (28 U.S.C. § 1651(a)). United States v. Morgan, 346 U.S. 502, 505, 74 S.Ct. 247, 98 L.Ed. 248; Williams v. United States, 310 F.2d 696, 698 (7th Cir. 1962); Thomas v. United States, 106 U.S.App.D.C. 234, 271 F.2d 500, 502-504 (1959).2 It is immaterial that Rini has not yet begun to serve his federal sentence, for under our Williams case, coram nobis relief is available to prisoners detained in a state penal institution under a state conviction and concurrently serving a federal sentence. The consequences of denial of coram nobis relief here would be that after the Illinois sentences were served, Rini would be taken into federal custody to begin service of the unexpired part of his federal sentence. He would then have to spend additional time in prison while attacking the conviction through another Section 2255 motion, again alleging denial of counsel. In this situation, fairness and sound judicial administration require that the constitutionality of his federal sentence be considered by granting the coram nobis remedy before the expiration of the state sentences. Mathis v. United States, 369 F.2d 43, 48 (4th Cir. 1966); United States v. DeMario, 246 F.Supp. 786, 788 (E.D.Mich.1965).
Accordingly, we reach the question whether petitioner was entitled to counsel in the 1960 District Court proceedings that took place under Rule 20 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. At that time, Rule 20 provided:
Rule 44 of the same Rules embodies the Sixth Amendment right to counsel and provided:
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