Sanders v. Johnston

Decision Date21 January 1948
Docket NumberNo. 11622.,11622.
Citation165 F.2d 736
PartiesSANDERS v. JOHNSTON, Warden.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Hilliard Sanders, in pro. per. for appellant.

Frank J. Hennessy, U. S. Atty., and Joseph Karesh, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.

Before GARRECHT, HEALY, and ORR, Circuit Judges.

ORR, Circuit Judge.

The question in this case is whether a conviction for the crime of armed robbery obtained in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland is now a nullity because the written judgment failed to include all matters prescribed by Rule 32(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.A. following section 687. The judgment reads as follows:

"* * * that the defendant Hilliard Sanders, also known as George L. Thompson be committed to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States for imprisonment in such place of confinement as he may designate, for the period of twenty years and pay a fine of $5,000.00 with costs, and with further commitment in default of payment of said fine."

The appeal is from an order of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of California, Southern Division, denying appellant's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Appellant is an inmate of the United States penitentiary at Alcatraz, California, being confined there upon a commitment issued pursuant to the judgment rendered by said United States District Court for Maryland. The judgment is alleged to be null and void in that it fails to set forth the plea, recite the verdict or contain an adjudication of appellant's guilt.

Upon the filing of the petition an order to show cause was issued and appellee filed a return to which was attached as exhibits a certified copy of the indictment returned against appellant by which he was charged with armed bank robbery; also, certified copies of docket entries, sentence and commitment. These certified copies of the trial court's records establish that appellant was duly and regularly charged with armed bank robbery; duly and regularly convicted of said crime by the verdict of a jury duly and regularly empaneled in said court and cause, and that pursuant to said charge regularly made, and said verdict duly returned and entered of record, appellant was duly and regularly sentenced to serve twenty years imprisonment and fined in the sum of five thousand dollars.

Appellant (petitioner in the lower court) moved to strike the exhibits attached to the return. The motion was denied. The trial court determined that the pleadings and attached exhibits disclosed sufficient legal grounds for the detention of the prisoner (appellant) and that therefore no necessity existed for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus and the holding of a hearing thereon. The petition was dismissed and the order to show cause discharged. Walker v. Johnston, 312 U.S. 275, 61 S.Ct. 574, 85 L.Ed. 830.

Rule 32(b)1 prescribes a recital in the judgment of the several steps taken by the court during the progress of a case from the entry of a plea to the pronouncement of sentence. Such a recital in the judgment would be prima facie evidence that the steps set forth therein actually took place, but it does not follow that a failure to make such a recital in the written judgment nullifies steps which did in fact...

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8 cases
  • Ogden v. United States
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • October 10, 1963
    ...not follow that a failure to make such a recital in the written judgment nullifies steps which did in fact occur." Sanders v. Johnston, 165 F.2d 736, 737 (9th Cir., 1948). Affirmed. CHAMBERS, Circuit Judge (concurring). I concur in the foregoing opinion. However, I think the next time we ge......
  • Chapman v. United States, 13111.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit
    • September 10, 1957
    ...166 U.S. 481; Moore v. Shuttleworth, 6 Cir., 180 F.2d 889, certiorari denied 339 U.S. 987, 70 S.Ct. 1009, 94 L.Ed. 1389; Sanders v. Johnston, 9 Cir., 165 F.2d 736, certiorari denied 334 U.S. 829, 68 S.Ct. 1328, 92 L.Ed. 1757, rehearing denied 335 U.S. 838, 69 S.Ct. 7, 93 L.Ed. 390; Bertsch ......
  • State v. Stinson
    • United States
    • Maine Supreme Court
    • January 8, 1981
    ...record of the court may be had to interpret or supplement the judgment. See Fuller v. State, Me., 282 A.2d 848 (1971); Sanders v. Johnston, 9th Cir., 165 F.2d 736 (1948). We do recognize that the power of the courts to grant probation is largely statutory. State v. Allen, Me., 235 A.2d 529,......
  • U.S. v. Bloomer, 1880
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
    • June 19, 1992
    ...the records of the court disclose an indictment, a jury verdict of guilty, the entry of the verdict, and a sentence. See Sanders v. Johnston, 165 F.2d 736 (9th Cir.1948). Whatever the significance of a judge's "adjudication" of guilt might be once a jury has returned a guilty verdict, we ar......
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