John S. Mitchell v. United StatesJohn S. Mitchell v. United States
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- Before:
- Reed
The defendant did not appeal from a conviction and sentence under the narcotics laws. It is now too late to do so. He now appeals from denial of a motion under
His present counsel, appointed by the District Court, contends that because trial counsel did not appeal, trial counsel did not give the defendant the “effective assistance” to which he was entitled. The defendant says his trial counsel refused to appeal because the defendant could not pay him a fee. But such a refusal, in the circumstances of this case, is not a ground for vacating the sentence.
It has been said that “failure to appeal may not be excused upon a mere showing of neglect of counsel.” Dennis v
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United States, 4 Cir., 177 F.2d 195. Perhaps that statement is too broad. We need not now decide whether failure to appeal would be a denial of effective assistance, and would open a conviction to “collateral attack” under
Affirmed.