Fоr the third time, Appellant Castle comes to this Court as a result of his 1960 conviction for transporting five forged American Express money orders in interstate commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314. The indictment contained five counts, making each of the money orders constitute a separate offense. Castle was convicted on all five counts and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment on the first count and five years on counts two through five. Counts two through five were concurrent, but consecutive to count one, making a total of fifteen years’ imprisonment. This Court affirmed the conviction,
On April 5, 1965, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, Castle filed a motion to vacate his conviction. The district court denied the motion and this Court subsequently denied leave to appeal in forma pauperis. He thereafter secured counsel to represent him on this appeal. His present status necessitates consideration of whether Section 2255 is available to him. Appellant has served the required period of imprisonment to obtain mandatory release under his ten-year sentence. He has also served the thirty days required for nonpayment of the committed fine, signed the pauper’s affidavit required by 18 U.S.C. § 3569, and been released from prison.
2
As he is no longer “in custody,” it is urged that he cannot use Section 2255 to attack the sentence or fine. See Fooshee v. United States, 5 Cir. 1953,
Appellant alleges two grounds of error for our consideration: First, that the imposition of the $10,000 fine on resen- *645 fencing was an increase in his original sentence and therefore a violation of the double-jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment and an impairment of his right to appeal in contravention of the due-process clause of the fifth amendment; second, that fining an indigent violates the due-process clause of the fifth amendment and the equal-protection clause of the fourteenth amendment as implemented by the due-process clause of the fifth amendment. 4
I.
The question of whether a trial judge can increase a sentence оn remand is currently being debated in criminal-law circles and demands resolution of a head-on clash of equally viable positions. See e. g. Agata, Time Served Under a Reversed Sentence or Conviction: A Proposal and a Basis for Decision, 25 Mont.L.Rev. 3 (1963); Alstyne, In Gideon’s Wake: Harsher Penalties and the “Successful” Criminal Appellant, 76 Yale L.J. 603 (1965); Whalen, Resentence Without Credit for Time Served: Unequal Protection of the Laws, 35 Minn.L.Rev. 239 (1951). Until recently it was believed that the trial judge could increase the sentence if he stayed within the statutory limits.
5
Indeed, this belief is supported by the only Supreme Court decisions on the subject. Stroud v. United States, 1919,
In the increase-of-sentenee area, the erosion of the absolute discretion of the
*646
trial judge started with the rejection of the “waiver theory” as a “simplistic rationale” and “sporting theory of justice.” See Whalen, supra, at 893. The most exhaustive treatment of the topic to date is the Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in Patton v. State of North Carolina, 4th Cir. 1967,
Appellant’s insistence that his sentence has .been increased is based on his interpretation of the Supreme Court’s decision to remand the case “for resentencing in accordance with this opinion” because appellant was guilty of but one offense.
*647 The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the five money orders constituted five separate offenses, and the Supreme Court held that they did not. The fact that Castle could not be imprisoned for fifteen years is not, however, authority for the proposition that he could not on remand be sentenced to the maximum punishment for one offense. Hence, we believe that all the Court’s decision imports is that on remand appellant could nоt receive a sentence greater than that which could be imposed as to a single offense under the statute. None of the individual counts charging separate offenses in the indictment had an independent validity restricting the trial court on remand. In effect, appellant was to be resentenced for the commission of a single offense embodying all five money orders. For this reason, he cannot justifiably interpret the mandate as voiding counts two through five and affirming count one. The Court simply said that the sentence was excessive and illegal because appellant’s conduct did not constitute five offenses but only one; it cоuld not have affirmed count one since that count charged Castle with transportation of only one money order when, in fact, he transported five. Consideration of decisions that restrict the trial court’s discretion support our conclusion.
In Ekberg v. United States, 1st Cir. 1948,
It is too late to go back and start over again. The concurrent sentences on counts 2 and 3 were valid as originally imposed. Disregarding the invalid sentence under count 1, and attributing the time served to the sentenсes under counts 2 and 3, as must be done, it will be seen that appellant has fully paid the penalty, extracted by society through the sentence of a competent court, for the only offenses of which he was properly convicted. It would trench upon the double jeopardy clause if appellant were now faced with the possibility of an increase of the sentences imposed under counts 2 and 3.
A similar result was reached in Miller v. United States, 2d Cir. 1945,
Another decision supporting this conclusion is United States v. Chiarella, .2d Cir. 1954,
The decision of Kennedy v. United States, 9th Cir. 1964,
Unlike our situation, the courts in
Ek-berg, Miller, Chiarella
and
Kennedy
were clear as to what part of the sentence was invalid and what part was specifically affirmed. Indeed, they were able to determine exactly what was left of the sentence after appellate-court action.
11
These factors prompted the courts to hold that the resentence could not be more than was originally assessed under the remaining valid counts. Since in the instant case it is not clear what remained after the sentence was disapproved and since the type of error was different from the errors in the other cases, we cannot justify extending
Ek-berg, Miller
and
Kennedy
so as to invali
*649
date the trial judge’s action. There is absolutely no foundation to the contention that the Supreme Court affirmed some of these counts and invalidated the others. This is true because once the trial judge’s error was corrected, none of the counts charged appellant with transportation of five money orders in interstate commerce, which was the only valid basis for his conviction. Therefore, there was not an increase in a valid count or valid sentence that had become the final judgment. See Pugliese v. United States, 1st Cir. 1965,
All of these decisions indicate that no court has considered a factual pattern similar to the one before us. In order to determine whether the advanced distinctions have legal as well as factual significance, one final decision will be discussed. In Whaley v. State of North Carolina, 4th Cir. 1967,
One ground urged by the defendant in
Whaley
was the “implied acquittal theory” adopted by the Supreme Court in Green v. United States, 1957,
There is, however, a segment of this due-process argument that requires further treatment. Although there is still conflict on the question of whether one has a constitutional right to appellate review, it is undisputed that once appellate review is provided, due process requires that it remain unfettered.
15
It is said that the state should keep post-conviction remedies unfettered because it has no interest in preserving erroneous judgments. Indeed, it should encourage constant and creative challenge of official decisions. U. S. Attorney General’s Committee on Poverty and the Administration of the Criminal Law 10-11 (1963). The burden in the area now under consideration is the risk of heavier sentence on remand. This threat of a higher sentence has been called an ‘incredible dilemma,” United States v. Green, supra, or “grisly choice,” Fay v. Noia, supra: “It is believed violative of due process because it is too high а price to exact for invoking appellate review. Indeed, the court in
Patton
reasoned that whenever one has to appeal under the risk of a more severe punishment, the appellate system is sanctioning a “barter theory of fairness” by requiring the accused to play “Russian roulette” with his rights. Cf. Smartt v. Avery, 6th Cir. 1967,
*651
The question to be decided is whether Castle faced the same “grisly-choice” because the imposition of the sentence of ten years and the fine of $10,000.00 would be harsher than the original sentence of fifteen years. Cf. Marano v. United States, 1st Cir. 1967,
Although it can be argued with considerable force that in some instances the first sentence should serve as a ceiling for any subsequent sentence, the facts of this case do not measure up to the denial of five years’ credit in Patton, or the imposition of a death sentence instead of life in Henderson. Our decision is influenced by the context in which we operate. Until recently one of the few settled rules of criminal law was that the trial judge had absolute discretion to increase the sentence to a term within the statutory limits. Before we carve out another exception, we should be sure that constitutional rights have truly been violated. In the instant case that conclusion is too speculative to justify judiсial pioneering.
II.
Appellant’s second contention is that fining an indigent violates the due-process clause of the fifth amendment and the equal-protection clause of the fourteenth amendment as implemented by the due-process clause of the fifth amendment. The major contention is that the statute sanctions invidious discrimination since a poor man would have to go to jail for thirty days if he could not pay the fine whereas the man with
*652
money would not. Since Castle has already finished his thirty days in jail, this point is moot. This being so, appellant is left with the assertion that the $10,000 fine of an indigent was an excessive punishment. Recent decisions by this Court foreclose this argument. In Rodriguez v. United States, 1968,
The question of appellate review of sentencing has recently received much advocacy as a needed reform to prevent unjustifiable disparities in the sentences meted to co-defendants. The arguments pro and con for such a review have almost universally been left to the legislative branch of government. Appellate courts have generally refused to disturb the trial court’s discretion in this matter unless the punishment is so disproportionate to the offense committed and to the sentences received by co-defendants as to be completely arbitrary and shocking to the sense of justice and thus to constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
The cases are legion that a sentence within the statutory limits is not cruel and unusual punishment. See Hedrick v. United States, 10th Cir. 1966,
If there is one rule in the federal criminal practice which is firmly established, it is that the appellate court has no control over a sentence which is within the limits allowed by statute.
Other recent decisions of this Court agree that “a sentence within the statutory limits is not reviewable on appeal and does not ascend to the orbit of a constitutional violation.” See Henderson v. Dutton, 5th Cir. 1968,
It might be argued that the excessive fining of an indigеnt violates substantive due process of law because it does not serve á legitimate end of punishment and, in fact, interferes with rehabilitation. The Supreme Court has recently indicated, however, that rehabilitation is not the only end of punishment and that special and general deterrence are still valid considerations in making the punishment fit the crime. Powell v. State of Texas, 1968,
Affirmed.
Notes
. 18 U.S.C. § 2314 provides for a fine of not more than $10,000, imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both. Thus the court imposed the maximum sentence for a single offense.
. The procedure relating to the fine is governed by statute. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3565 the defendant is to be imprisoned until the amount of the fine is paid; however, under 18 U.S.C. § 3569, a provision is made that where such convict has been imprisoned for 30 days “solely for the nonpayment of such fine,” he may be released from the penitentiary upon the filing of a pauper’s affidavit.
. There is still a real controversy present because taking a pauper’s affidavit and serving an additional 30 days does not affect Castle’s obligation to pay tbe $10,000 fine. The statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3569, merely provides a procedure whereby an indigent convict may avoid further imprisonment under a judgment committing him until the fine is paid. See Smith v. United States, 9th Cir. 1944,
. Nothing in our prior opinions precludes the assertion of these contentions despite the argument that this appeal is simply an attempt to raise issues already adjudicated by this Court. All prior proceedings have attacked the legality of the conviction and not the sentence.
. This rule is followed by numerous federal and state courts. United States ex rel. Starner v. Russell, 3d Cir. 1967,
. Evidence that defendants consistently received an increased sentence on remand suggested improper conduct fay trial judges. Note, 1965 Duke L.J. 395, 399 n. 25. This evidence has been used to answer the contention that the trial judge must have this discretion unless his traditional role is to be undermined. It has been said that this latter position begs the question of whether the judge should have this much discretion. Marano v. United States, 1st Cir. 1967,
. The court in
Patton
justified rejecting the waiver theory by relying on Green v. United States, 1957,
. This consideration must be viewed under the fifth amendment, which lacks an equal-protectiоn clause, since this is a federal prosecution. Thus a defendant must show that he has suffered from discrimination so invidious as to violate due process. Schneider v. Rusk, 1964,
. See e.g. Marano v. United States, 1st Cir. 1967,
. The decisions in which the aggregate time in prison has been increased provide another good example of the application of this same general principle. In United States v. Walker, 4th Cir. 1965,
. In Elcberg the cоurt knew that count one was bad but that counts two and three were specifically affirmed on appeal. In Miller, it was clear that count one was encompassed by count two, which had been approved on appeal. In Kennedy, the court knew that the sentence on one count was excessive and that the rest of the original sentence was valid.
. The “entirely new sentence” rationale has been used to explain or distinguish Kitt v. United States, 4th Cir. 1943,
. This “implied acquittal” theory has been soundly criticized. The main attack has been on Henderson’s extension of the doctrine to the punishment area. Note, 1965 Duke L.J. 915. This Note would confine Henderson to capital cases and even then on the basis that the appellate process should not be unreasonably impaired by the risk of higher sentences. For additional criticisms of the doctrine see Alstyne, supra; Note, 13 Kan.L.Rev. 155 (1964); Note, 50 Va.L. Rev. 559 (1964).
. It should be notеd that an increase is required because only then is there “that kind of double jeopardy * * * [which] has subjected him [to] a hardship so acute and shocking that our policy will not endure it * * * [and] violate [s] those ‘fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all our civil and political institutions.’ ” Patton, supra,
. Draper v. State of Washington, 1963,
. There are several reasons why imprisonment is ordinarily more onerous than payment of a fine. First, imprisonment brings not only a financial loss in wages but also the loss of all other advantages and privileges of being at liberty. Comment, Equal Protection And the Use of Fines As Penalties For Criminal Offenses, 1966 Ill.L.F. 460. Second, society apparently attaches a greater stigma to serving a prison sentence than to payment of a fine. Note, 16 Stan.L. Rev. 394, 412 (1964). For additional support see, Note, 64 Mich.L.Rev. 938 (1966); Note, 50 Minn.L.Rev. 1152 (1966).
