UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

In a Federal District Court, petitioners were convicted of violating certain federal criminal statutes and were sentenced to imprisonment. Their convictions were affirmed by the Court of Appeals, but their cases were remanded for resentencing. They were resentenced, and the judgments were affirmed by the Court of Appeals. Several years later, petitioners moved in the District Court that their sentences be vacated and that they be resentenced, on the ground that they had not been given an opportunity to make statements in their own behalves, as required by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(a), either when they were originally sentenced or when they were resentenced. Finding this to be true, the District Court granted their motions and ordered that petitioners be returned to it for resentencing. Without waiting for them to be resentenced, the Government appealed to the Court of Appeals.

Held: Petitioners' motions should be considered as having been made in collateral proceedings under 28 U.S.C. § 2255; the District Court's orders were interlocutory, not final; and the Court of Appeals did not have jurisdiction of the Government's appeal. Pp. 373 U. S. 335-340.

301 F.2d 376, judgment set aside and cases remanded. clubjuris

Page 373 U. S. 335