661 F. 2d 72 - United States v. Hunt

This case presents an issue of whether a defendant who is charged with a petty offense is entitled to a jury trial by virtue of being subject to sentencing under the Federal Youth Corrections Act. We conclude that no jury right exists, and affirm District Judge Guy's decision.

On August 28, 1979, a federal grand jury indicted defendant-appellant Alvin Hunt for assaulting various federal officers. Hunt was serving a sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution at Milan, Michigan when he apparently got into a fight with several prison guards. Hunt was indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 111,1 which defines a felony. Upon reconsideration in January of 1980, the government concluded that the interests of justice did not require a felony disposition of the case. Accordingly, the government dismissed the felony indictment and charged Hunt with three counts of simple assault in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(e) and one count of assault by striking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(d).2

Hunt demanded a jury trial. His counsel argued that Hunt was subject to possible sentencing under the Federal Youth Corrections Act, 18 U.S.C. § 5005 et seq. and that this possibility triggered a constitutional right to trial by jury. The district court denied the jury trial motion. The case proceeded to trial before the district court. The court found Hunt guilty of one count of simple assault,3 and sentenced him to three months in prison, to be served consecutively to the sentence Hunt was already serving. The court also concluded that Hunt would not benefit from treatment under the Youth Corrections Act, and did not sentence him under the Act.

* On appeal, the sole question raised is whether Hunt was entitled to a jury trial. The Supreme Court has held that there is a constitutional right to a jury trial in all cases except those involving "petty offenses." See, e. g. Baldwin v. New York, 399 U.S. 66, 90 S.Ct. 1886, 26 L.Ed.2d 437 (1970); Dyke v. Taylor Implement Co., 391 U.S. 216, 88 S.Ct. 1472, 20 L.Ed.2d 538 (1968). In Baldwin the Court held that no crime which subjected a defendant to more than six months imprisonment could ever be "petty." However, this does not mean that all offenses punishable by six months or less in prison are automatically "petty." A court must analyze the offenses charged with a view toward "the seriousness with which society regards the offense." Baldwin, supra, 399 U.S. at 68, 90 S.Ct. at 1888. See Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 160-61, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 1453, 20 L.Ed.2d 491 (1968); United States v. Stewart, 568 F.2d 501, 502-03 (6th Cir. 1978).

In United States v. Stewart, supra, this court analyzed 18 U.S.C. § 113(d) and concluded that a defendant charged under that provision did not have a right to a jury trial. That decision controls here.4

The defendant seeks to distinguish our decision in United States v. Stewart, supra, by arguing that the sentencing provisions of the Youth Corrections Act, 18 U.S.C. § 5005 et seq., convert the simple assault charge into a crime requiring a jury trial. The Youth Corrections Act is a sentencing law which enables a district judge to sentence a Youthful Offender to the custody of the attorney general for treatment and supervision for a period not to exceed six years. 18 U.S.C. §§ 5010; 5017. However, sentencing under the Act is not mandatory and can only occur if the offender is under the age of 26 and the district court elects to pursue this sentencing option. 18 U.S.C. § 4216. Hunt was 20 years old when he was convicted, and was clearly eligible to be sentenced under the Youth Corrections Act. Based on this contingency, the defendant argues that under Baldwin, supra, he was clearly entitled to a jury trial.

We cannot agree with the defendant's claim. The aim of the Youth Corrections Act is not to punish, but to rehabilitate. The Act is meant to be an alternative to punishment. Sentencing under the Act is distinguishable from an ordinary prison sentence. First, the Act authorizes probation, 18 U.S.C. § 5010(a) and conditional release from prison, 18 U.S.C. § 5017(a), at any time. Thus, the period of treatment proscribed for the defendant may well end with no confinement at all. Second, the Act requires that youth offenders be segregated from adult offenders. 18 U.S.C. § 5011.5 Third, only those institutions which the Director of the Bureau of Prisons certifies as proper and adequate treatment facilities may be used to house youth offenders. 18 U.S.C. § 5012. Finally, the conviction of the youth offender may be set aside upon unconditional release, thus removing the stigma of the criminal conviction. 18 U.S.C. § 5021. Given these provisions, we do not view possible confinement under the Act as an increase in the penalty for the substantive offense charged. We do not believe that eligibility for sentencing under the Youth Corrections Act converts a petty offense into a crime requiring a jury trial.6

Notwithstanding our holding in Part I, supra, we are aware that the Youth Offender Act has generated controversy, and that at times the Act has not been implemented as Congress desired. See Johnson v. Bell, 487 F.Supp. 977 (E.D.Mich.1980); Watts v. Hadden, 469 F.Supp. 223 (D.Colo.1979); Brown v. Carlson, 431 F.Supp. 755 (W.D.Wis.1977). Indeed, some defendants are strongly opposed to being sentenced under the Act. See United States v. Amidon, 627 F.2d 1023 (9th Cir. 1980).

We find it incongruous that an adult defendant convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 113(e) can be sentenced to a maximum of three months in prison, while a youth offender could receive and serve up to six years under the Youth Corrections Act in the name of rehabilitation.7 The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has examined this incongruity and has concluded that Congress meant to remedy it in the Federal Magistrate Act of 1979, 18 U.S.C. § 3401 (1980). United States v. Amidon, supra. The Ninth Circuit construed the Federal Magistrate Act as barring a district court from sentencing a youth to a longer term under the Youth Corrections Act than the court could normally impose on an adult. We endorse the Ninth Circuit's analysis, which we reproduce at the margin.8 Thus, even assuming that a sentence under the Act would be deemed to be additional punishment for purposes of a jury trial, that sentence could not exceed the six or three month sentence an adult could receive under 18 U.S.C. §§ 113(d) and (e). Accordingly, as an alternative holding, we rule that no jury trial right existed in this case because the district court could not have sentenced the defendant to more than three months in prison under the Youth Corrections Act in any case.

For the reasons outlined above, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.

MERRITT, Circuit Judge, concurring.

I concur in Part II of the Court's opinion, but not in that portion of Part I that would allow a youth offender to be sentenced under the Youth Corrections Act for a period exceeding six months without according him the right to a jury trial. The Court reasons apparently that since the purpose of a sentence under the Youth Corrections Act is rehabilitation rather than retribution or deterrence the constitutional provision requiring a jury trial does not apply even when the youth is sentenced to six years in prison. I disagree with this reasoning because I believe that, whatever the label or euphemism given to describe the imprisonment, the constitutional provisions granting the right of trial by jury in criminal cases applies whenever the sentence may exceed six months. Passing fashion and jargon in penology, or the fact that a judge thinks that he is sending a defendant to jail for his own good, do not alter the right to a jury trial.