Wallace Bryce Nicholas v. United States

The district court held that it had no jurisdiction to grant probation to Nicholas because (1) the five-year probationary period prescribed by 18 U.S.C. § 3651 was not tolled during Nicholas’ voluntary absence from the jurisdiction and, accordingly, the term had expired before his probation revocation hearing, and (2) under 18 U.S.C. § 3653 , the court was powerless to release Nicholas on probation after it had earlier revoked his probation. Nicholas appeals. We hold that the district court had jurisdiction to grant probation, and we remand the cause to the district court.

Following a guilty plea, Nicholas was sentenced on April 17, 1969, to the custody of the Attorney General for five years and ordered confined to a jail-type institution for six months; the remainder of his sentence was suspended, and he was placed on probation for five years. He served his jail time and complied with the terms of his probation until the latter part of 1971, when he moved to Nevada. He did not advise the Probation Department of his move. The Department first learned that he had left the jurisdiction when it received a letter from him, postmarked October 11, 1971, from London, England.…