United States ex rel. Walker v. Twomey, 72-1096

• Citation: 484 F.2d 874
• Decision Date: 27 August 1973
• Docket Number: 73-1028.,No. 72-1096,72-1096
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Gerald Daniel WALKER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. John J. TWOMEY, Respondent-Appellee. UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Sherman Anthony KANE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Peter BENSINGER, etc., et al., Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

484 F.2d 874 (1973)

UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Gerald Daniel WALKER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. John J. TWOMEY, Respondent-Appellee. UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Sherman Anthony KANE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Peter BENSINGER, etc., et al., Respondents-Appellees.

Nos. 72-1096, 73-1028.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued October 16, 1972.

Submitted May 18, 1973.

Decided August 27, 1973.

John T. Perry, Wheaton, Ill., Cornelius E. Toole, Chicago, Ill., for petitioners-appellants.

William J. Scott, Atty. Gen., Morton Friedman, James B. Zagel and Melbourne A. Noel, Jr., Asst. Attys. Gen., Chicago, Ill., for respondents-appellees.

Before SWYGERT, Chief Judge, KNOCH, Senior Circuit Judge, and FAIRCHILD, Circuit Judge.

No. 72-1096 Argued October 16, 1972.

No. 73-1028 Submitted May 18, 1973.

PER CURIAM.

Several judges of the district court for the northern district of Illinois have arrived at conflicting views concerning a rule to be applied where persons convicted of crime in a state court are denied bail pending appeal.

Judge Will has applied a rule that when the state court denies bail pending appeal and does not express any basis for its denial, such omission creates a presumption of arbitrariness. United States ex rel. Keating v. Bensinger, 322 F.Supp. 784 (N.D.Ill., 1971). In decisions now under review. Judge Napoli in Walker, and Judge Decker in Kane, declined to apply that presumption. In each case habeas relief was denied because the court concluded that petitioner had not shown that the record provides no rational basis for the decision.

There is little disagreement on the preliminary steps of the analysis. The provision of the eighth amendment prohibiting excessive bail is assumed to be binding on the states.¹ Whatever the content of the constitutional protection with respect to bail, binding upon the states, it is clear that once a state has made provision for bail pending appeal, the arbitrary denial of bail violates the fourteenth amendment.

Codification controlling release pending appeal in the federal system is found in 18 U.S.C. § 3148. The risk of flight, probability that the convicted person will pose a danger to another or to the community, and lack of merit in the appeal are appropriate considerations, and one or a combination of those factors may justify denial of release or, in some cases, imposition of more onerous conditions of release, including bail.

Rule 9, F.R.A.P., provides that after a conviction in federal district court, if the district court refuses release pending appeal, or imposes conditions of release, the court shall state in writing the reasons for the action taken. We draw on our own experience in considering appellants' requests for release after denial by a district court to observe that written reasons for denial or imposition of high bail are most helpful in performing our task. We are, in those instances, reviewing decisions of courts in the same system, over which we have appellate jurisdiction, in order to implement federal judicial policy. Although the word "review" is sometimes loosely used with respect to exercise of federal habeas corpus jurisdiction where a state court decision is being collaterally attacked, this is an inappropriate use of the term.

It is fair to say that there is strong federal judicial policy in favor of release on bail pending appeal unless the appeal appears to be frivolous or dilatory.

It does not necessarily follow that present federal judicial policy, either substantive or procedural, with respect to bail pending appeal from a criminal conviction, is an exact measure of a right with respect to bail on appeal, protected against state action by the fourteenth amendment.

The fact that articulation by a state court of its reasons for denial of release on bail would usually make it easier for a federal court, considering a petition for habeas corpus, to decide whether the denial could be said to have a rational basis, does not authorize federal courts to impose that procedural requirement on state courts. We agree with Judge Decker that reliance on a presumption of regularity is appropriate at this...