United States v. Stumpf, 73-1054.
| Decision Date | 18 April 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 73-1054.,73-1054. |
| Citation | 476 F.2d 945 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Connie STUMPF, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Alfred D. Swersky, Alexandria, Va., for appellant.
K. Gregory Haynes, Asst. U. S. Atty., Alexandria, Va., for appellee.
Before WINTER and FIELD, Circuit Judges, and BLAIR, District Judge.
Defendant, who entered a guilty plea to the misdemeanor charge of willful obstruction of mail, 18 U.S.C. § 1701 (1970), was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 120 days. Although she was interviewed by a probation officer prior to sentencing, she suppressed the fact that she had ever experienced psychiatric difficulties. After sentence was imposed, she moved for a reduction of sentence under Rule 35, F.R.Crim.P., supporting her motion with a letter from her family doctor which related that she had had "a very distorted life history since her adoption," that she had been treated at "Pratt Institute," Baltimore, Maryland,* and escaped from this institution, and that she was "in a very unstable mental wandering and probable self-destructive state of mind sic." The district court, after reviewing the papers and hearing the comments of counsel, denied the motion and also denied a request that she be permitted to remain at liberty on bond pending an appeal.
Defendant appealed from denial of her motion for reduction, and a judge of this court granted a 5-day stay of the execution of the sentence (later extended), on condition that defendant consult a private psychiatrist to obtain a determination of her mental condition and the effect of incarceration thereon. The examination and report were made by Dr. Erich M. Reinhardt, a qualified psychiatrist who was privately engaged by defendant. Dr. Reinhardt's report elaborated upon defendant's unstable background and her "fragile, emotional equilibrium," which he described as "prone to disintegration even under minor stress," and as "very precarious, with the threat of a prison sentence hanging over her . . .." He stated that "she has made suicidal gestures, talks suicide, and has reached the point of making unwise and unrealistic decisions . . .." He expressed the view that if incarcerated, "I am sure that psychiatric hospitalization would become a necessity." In a supplemental report he added that, in his opinion, defendant "should not be incarcerated at the present time, since most likely confinement would cause a mental breakdown."
Limiting ourselves to the record before the district court, we see no merit in defendant's appeal. A motion for reduction of sentence under Rule 35 is addressed to the sound...
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