Weathers v. Willingham

Decision Date04 February 1966
Docket NumberNo. 8467.,8467.
Citation356 F.2d 421
PartiesRobert Chester WEATHERS, Appellant, v. J. T. WILLINGHAM, Warden, United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

H. Michael Miller, Denver, Colo., for appellant.

James R. Ward, Asst. U. S. Atty., Topeka, Kan. (Newell A. George, U. S. Atty., Topeka, Kan., with him on the brief), for appellee.

Before MURRAH, Chief Judge, and PICKETT and SETH, Circuit Judges.

SETH, Circuit Judge.

The appellant's petition for a writ of habeas corpus was denied by the trial court without a hearing, and this appeal was taken.

Appellant is confined at the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. He was originally sentenced to a five year term for a Dyer Act violation, and was paroled in accordance with the mandatory release statute (18 U.S.C. §§ 4163, 4164) having then been in prison some forty-one months. He was on parole for about twelve months when it was revoked, and he was returned to prison where he has now been for some eleven additional months.

Appellant asserts that while on parole following his mandatory release from prison he was under such severe restrictions on his liberty that in fact he continued to serve his sentence, and counting this time on parole he is thus entitled to release. Appellant points to the conditions which were attached to his parole which need not here be listed, but which we must recognize to be numerous and somewhat onerous. The opinion in Jones v. Cunningham, 371 U.S. 236, 83 S.Ct. 373, 9 L.Ed.2d 285, contains a description of some of these conditions. It is also apparent that appellant's release was mandatory as to both parties concerned in that neither had any choice or discretion in the matter. 18 U.S.C. § 4163. The appellant also points out that the conditions attached to his parole were similarly mandatory in that no choice was afforded to him. 18 U.S.C. § 4163; Singleton v. Looney, 218 F.2d 526 (10th Cir.); Hicks v. Reid, 90 U.S.App.D.C. 109, 194 F.2d 327.

Appellant urges that we should adopt the position expressed in the dissenting opinion in Bates v. Rivers, 116 U.S.App. D.C. 306, 323 F.2d 311. In this dissent the writer regards parole as a device used in the interest of society, and that the authorities thereby choose to have part of the prisoner's sentence served outside as a method of "treatment." He states: "Parole is merely a modern form of exercise of `custody and control' by the authorities."

Our court has however held, that, for the purposes under consideration, "imprisonment" means confinement in fact, and a sentence...

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23 cases
  • Starnes v. McGuire, s. 73-1034
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit
    • November 8, 1974
    ...e. g., Cooks v. U. S. Board of Parole, 447 F.2d 63 (5th Cir. 1971); Moore v. Smith, 412 F.2d 720 (7th Cir. 1969); Weathers v. Willingham, 356 F.2d 421 (10th Cir. 1966). This circuit has upheld its analogue in the D.C.Code. Bates v. Rivers, 116 U.S.App.D.C. 306, 323 F.2d 311 (1963), Wright, ......
  • Moore v. Smith
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • July 14, 1969
    ...F.2d 301 (7th Cir. 1943), and we see no reason or intervening change in the law requiring us to depart therefrom. See Weathers v. Willingham, 356 F.2d 421 (10th Cir. 1966); O'Callahan v. Attorney General of United States, 351 F.2d 43 (1st Cir. 1965) (per curiam), certiorari denied, 382 U.S.......
  • Matthews v. Jones
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Idaho
    • September 25, 2012
    ...and deferred by the fact of [a] conditional release." Woods v. Steiner, 207 F. Supp. 945, 952 (D. Ma. 1962); see also Weathers v. Willingham, 356 F.2d 421 (10th Cir. 1966). Similarly, forfeiture of time spent on parole or probation is not considered a "multiple punishment" under the Fifth A......
  • United States ex rel. Spain v. Oswald
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York
    • February 23, 1972
    ...§ 4205. This provision has been uniformly upheld as constitutional. Moore v. Smith, 412 F.2d 720 (9th Cir. 1969); Weathers v. Willingham, 356 F.2d 421 (8th Cir. 1966); O'Callahan v. Attorney General, 351 F.2d 43 (1st Cir. 1965), cert. den. 382 U.S. 1017, 86 S.Ct. 632, 15 L.Ed.2d 531. Plaint......
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