Smith v. United States

• Decision Date: 10 March 1959
• Docket Number: No. 15908.,15908.
• Citation: 267 F.2d 210
• Parties: Isadore SMITH, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

267 F.2d 210 (1959)

Isadore SMITH, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 15908.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

March 10, 1959.

Isadore Smith, Springfield, Mo., in pro. per.

Laughlin E. Waters, U. S. Atty., Peter J. Hughes, Robert John Jensen, Asst. U. S. Attys., Los Angeles, Cal., for appellee.

Before FEE, CHAMBERS and BARNES, Circuit Judges.

JAMES ALGER FEE, Circuit Judge.

This is another of the appeals from a refusal by a trial court to set aside a verdict of guilty upon a motion to set aside and vacate the sentence under 28 U.S. C.A. § 2255. The only substantial ground is the claim that Smith was insane at the time of arraignment, trial and sentence. A reading of the record in the case indicates that Smith was properly convicted on three counts upon overwhelming evidence of the illegal importation of marijuana, without having registered and paid the tax required by law, and concealment thereof. Smith pleaded not guilty to each of these counts, and the jury found him guilty on each one. An appeal to this Court on the merits was dismissed. Thereupon, this motion was filed.

The question of his supposed disability was not raised at the time of arraignment or trial. In connection with the sentence, counsel for Smith mentioned the medical history of the latter, but advised the trial court that Smith was sane. Affidavits were filed in support of the issuance of subpoenas on behalf of Smith as an indigent defendant. One of these indicates that a doctor from the Veterans Administration was desired as a witness for the defense. But it was there indicated that this witness was sought by Smith only to establish the physical incapacity of the latter to participate in the offense and not his mental incapacity. There was likewise filed upon a motion for reduction of sentence an affidavit by the wife of Smith, in which it was alleged that she did not think he had a "real incapacity to understand the criminal nature of his acts."

When Smith first made his motion in the trial court, he urged as one of the bases therefor his past history with the Veterans Administration. This showed that he had been discharged from the naval service in 1945 on the ground that he was fifty per cent disabled because of a mental condition. It was shown that he had been under the care of a Veterans Administration psychiatrist. It was also indicated that he was at one time found one hundred per cent disabled and at the time of trial was considered by the Veterans Administration to be eighty per cent mentally disabled. It is also claimed in the brief that some of the diagnoses indicate that he suffered from schizophrenia or dementia praecox. It further appears that Smith was transferred to a federal hospital at Springfield, Missouri, after his sentence and confinement at a federal penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington.

In this case, Smith not only was present at the trial and thus was subject to observation, but he testified. Even upon the cold record, his examination under oath demonstrated that Smith was oriented as to time and place, that he thoroughly understood the questions put to him and was able to give clear and intelligent answers. The element of his examination pertinent as to his ability to cooperate in his own defense is the nature of the account which he gave of the transactions. He concocted a cohesive narrative of events which was not only consistent with the testimony of the witnesses for the government, but also, by its fictional elements, completely exculpated Smith. His admission of guilt subsequent to the rejection of the story by the jury exposed its falsity.

It is unfortunate that this defendant rejected a lawyer on this appeal. It is most difficult to explain to one who claims not to be able to understand the...