United States ex rel. Jones v. Rundle, Civ. A. No. 70-2522.

• Decision Date: 24 June 1971
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 70-2522.
• Citation: 329 F. Supp. 381
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Herbert JONES, Jr. v. Alfred T. RUNDLE, Supt.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

329 F. Supp. 381

UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Herbert JONES, Jr. v. Alfred T. RUNDLE, Supt.

Civ. A. No. 70-2522.

United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania.

June 24, 1971.

Herbert Jones, Jr., pro se.

Stewart Greenleaf, Asst. Dist. Atty., Montgomery County, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOHN W. LORD, Jr., Chief Judge.

Relator has petitioned this Court to issue a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that his sentences were excessive and his guilty plea entered into unknowingly and unwillingly. For the reasons set forth in the opinion we deny the petition.

Unfortunately, there was a substantial delay in the determination of this case because relator asserted that he had been convicted of violating 18 P. S. § 4898, Fraudulent Use of Credit Cards, the relevant subsection of which provides punishment according to the value of the article (s) taken in violation of the act. Rather than respond to this assertion, the Commonwealth replied to a number of other issues in a vague manner, and it was only after repeated orders by this Court that the Commonwealth, through the District Attorney of Montgomery County, replied that relator had been convicted of violating 18 P.S. § 4836, Cheating by Fraudulent Pretenses, which does not differentiate between goods of different degrees of value. It is clear that relator's sentence of two to five years is proper, as the limit of the section is a sentence not exceeding five years and/or a fine of five thousand dollars. (Relator was sentenced to pay the costs of prosecution for each of the three offenses to which he pled guilty.)

Relator also pled guilty to 18 P. S. § 5107, Attempts to Commit Crime, which provides, in relevant part, that should a defendant be found guilty:

"only of an attempt to commit the crime, he shall not by reason thereof be entitled to be acquitted * * * but is guilty of an attempt to commit the same.

"Thereupon such person shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as if he had been convicted upon an indictment for attempting to commit the particular felony or misdemeanor charged in the indictment."

Having pled guilty to a separate, unsuccessful attempt to obtain goods in violation of 18 P.S. § 4836, the sentence of the state court that he serve two to five years is within the statutory limit of five years for the substantive offense.

Finally, with regard to the illegality of his sentences, relator was convicted of violating 35 P.S. § 780-20, The Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, subsection (c) of which provides in relevant part that:

"any person who possesses any narcotic drugs in violation of the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a felony. * * *" (Emphasis supplied)

Relator contends that the quantities of heroin found on his person were so slight that no actual measurement was made, and that the requirements of the law as to quantity were not met.

Past statutes required a minimum (not present here), and the present statute is not specific as to quantitative requirements. Unfortunately, the state Supreme Court has not seen fit to construe the relevant statute as to what specific quantity, if any, is necessary for conviction. In deciding an appeal based on a quantity argument, the intermediate appellate court for this state construed section 2 of the Anti-Narcotics Act of 1917, 35 P.S. § 852, repealed by Public Law 1664, § 31, September 26, 1961, to be a prohibitory amendment, with the burden of proving any exemption to the act resting with the defendant. Commonwealth v....