Stanley Forman Reed

“ Petitioner declared that he twice initiated investigation of the legality of his sentence. The probation officer obviously checked with someone long before petitioner was brought to court for what is now called his 'first' sentence. We cannot simply assume that the facts did not come to the attention of any responsible person. ”

“ While we do not impose on persons unlearned in the law the same high standards of the legal art that we might place on the members of the legal profession, we think that these issues are too far afield from the questions that petitioner raised in the courts below and in his petition for certiorari for them properly to be before us. ”

“ The delay must not be purposeful or oppressive. It was not here. It was accidental and was promptly remedied when discovered. Nothing in the record indicates any delay in sentencing after discovery of the 1952 error. From the issuance of the warrant in September 1954 for the violation, of probation the normal inference would be that the error was still unknown to the court, although petitioner states he had known of it since November 1952. ”

“ He contended that, since his 1952 probation sentence was invalid, his 1954 prison sentence was also invalid because it was for probation violation. Actually, of course, it was punishment for the embezzlement. The District Court denied the motion on the ground that ' (Petitioner) was initially sentenced upon September 21, 1954, and the files and records in the case conclusively show that said judgment was within the jurisdiction of the court and the sentence imposed was valid and in accordance with law.' Petitioner filed a notice of appeal and a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis. ”

“ With your background and with your ability I think that you can win this fight.
'If you don't do those things, and if you want to revert to drinking, you will be back here again because you will commit some federal offense, and I won't be talking to you this way if you are ever before me again. ”

“ United States
Argued: Dec. 3, 1956. --- Decided: Feb 25, 1957
This case concerns the validity of a sentence imposed on petitioner in September 1954. On September 8, 1952, petitioner pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota to an information charging him with the unlawful taking and embezzlement of a United States Treasury check in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1702, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1702. The district judge deferred imposition of sentence pending presentence investigation. On October 3, 1952, petitioner appeared before the trial judge at 10 a.m. ”

“ If the probation sentence had been valid, petitioner on its violation would have been subject to the sentence actually imposed in 1954. 18 U.S.C. § 3653, 18 U.S.C.A. § 3563; Roberts v. United States, 320 U.S. 264, 268 64 S.Ct. 113, 115, 88 L.Ed. 41.
II. Petitioner's other contentions relate to violations of constitutional rights of speedy trial and due process, and significant departure from proper standards of criminal law administration. It is not disputed that a court has power to enter sentence at a succeeding term where a void sentence had been previously imposed. Miller v. ”