United States v. Weese
| Decision Date | 24 October 1944 |
| Docket Number | No. 60.,60. |
| Citation | 145 F.2d 135 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. WEESE. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Samuel Mezansky, of New York City (Irving Spieler, of New York City, on the brief), for appellant.
Edward W. McDonald, Asst. U. S. Atty., of New York City (James B. M. McNally, U. S. Atty., of New York City, on the brief), for appellee.
Before L. HAND, SWAN, and CLARK, Circuit Judges.
The sole question presented by this appeal is whether the District Court erred in denying defendant's motion to withdraw his plea of guilt. This motion came sometime beyond the period limited for it by Rule 2(4) of Rules of Criminal Procedure After Plea of Guilty, etc., 18 U.S.C.A. following section 688, recently considered by us in United States v. Achtner, 2 Cir., 144 F.2d 49; but since defendant's contention, so far as it has substance, contains an implication of fraud and overreaching on the part of the prosecuting authorities, we shall consider it just as did the court below. And we agree with that court in concluding that nothing more is shown here than the not unusual case of disappointed expectation when a plea of guilt is not productive of the light sentence confidently expected.
The indictment here concerned the marketing of stock in a Canadian gold mine. It was returned, and defendant pleaded not guilty, in June, 1941. Next in the docket entries appears the notice of appearance, January 26, 1944, by defendant's counsel, an attorney with over twenty-one years' experience in the District Court. Defendant's plea of guilt came on February 24, and his motion to withdraw it on April 12, 1944, to which time the case had been adjourned for sentence. This was followed by hearings conducted by the District Judge on two separate days, at the conclusion of which the motion was denied and defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for a year and a day. Much is made of the delay between the indictment and the later proceedings, and of the asserted fact that in the meantime defendant established himself in a business of some importance. But, however unfortunate may be the delays of justice, it is certainly impossible to eradicate them, particularly in these days when prosecuting staffs are so shorthanded; and we do not see how such matters warrant defendant in relying upon expectations which are legally unjustified. Not only was his counsel thus experienced, but he himself had been convicted in 1925 in the same court for a like offense, for which he received a substantial sentence; and in 1939, he had been indicted in a similar case where the principals were ultimately convicted, while the charge against him was nolprossed. Indeed, his attorney stated explicitly to the court that there had been no misleading upon the part of the Assistant United States Attorney in charge of the case and with whom he had conferred about it. Counsel relied only on his belief that he had misled his client into being too hopeful as to the possibility of a suspended sentence in the light of negotiations claimed by defendant to have been had earlier with a representative of the Securities and Exchange Commission who assumed to represent the prosecutor.
The story of these earlier negotiations, as told for the defendant,...
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...the former appeal which the court dealt with in 203 F.2d 284. 2 United States v. Norstrand Corp., 2 Cir., 168 F.2d 481; United States v. Weese, 2 Cir., 145 F.2d 135; United States v. Colonna, 3 Cir., 142 F.2d 210; United States v. Denniston, 2 Cir., 89 F.2d 696, 110 A.L.R. 1296, certiorari ......
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Gunn v. Kuhlman, 79 Civ. 1011.
...429 F.2d 104, 110 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 909, 91 S.Ct. 1385, 28 L.Ed.2d 651 (1971). 21 Id. (quoting United States v. Weese, 145 F.2d 135, 136 (2d Cir. 1944)). 22 Id. at 23 See, e. g., Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 743 n. 2, 747-48, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 25 L.Ed.2d 747 (1970......
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United States ex rel. Curtis v. Zelker, 900
...he had labored under an erroneous impression as to what would happen to him after acceptance of the plea. See, e. g., United States v. Weese, 145 F.2d 135 (2d Cir. 1944). To justify the issuance of a federal writ vacating his guilty plea, the petitioner must bear the burden of showing that ......
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United States ex rel. Scott v. Mancusi, 319
...too easy avenue for the invalidating of convictions on a plea of guilty. United States v. Horton, supra; see also United States v. Weese, 145 F.2d 135, 136 (2d Cir. 1944) where the basis for requesting a withdrawal of a plea was a statement by counsel that he had misled his client into bein......