United States v. Donald P. Myers

The Government appeals from an order of the district court, D.C., 319 F. Supp. 326 , setting aside Myers’ 1963 guilty plea on the ground that the plea was invalid under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

At the time Myers pleaded guilty to the federal charges and was sentenced, he was in the custody of the State of California, awaiting trial on two different state charges. After the federal sentence was imposed, Myers was convicted of the state offenses, and he was retained in state custody until 1968 when he was paroled into federal custody. Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3568 , Myers’ seven-year federal sentence did not begin to run until he was first received in federal custody upon his 1968 parole.

In 1970, Myers filed a section 2255 petition alleging that his 1963 plea was involuntary because he was not then aware that, under section 3568, any sentence that the federal court might impose would not begin to run until he was received in federal custody. The district court found that the 1963 court was aware that at all pertinent times Myers was in state custody and that Myers had not been informed of the impact of section 3568. It concluded that Rule 11 then…