Summary
holding that a federal prisoner who was being held awaiting federal charges in a local county jail was in federal custody and could be prosecuted under the federal escape statute
Summary of this case from U.S. v. SmithOpinion
No. 71-1343.
Submitted November 1, 1971.
Decided November 30, 1971.
John F. Brown, Jr., Elkins, W. Va. (Court-appointed), on brief for appellant.
Paul C. Camilletti, U.S. Atty., and Stephen G. Jory, Asst. U.S. Atty., on brief, for appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, and WINTER and RUSSELL, Circuit Judges.
Ralph Hall is appealing his conviction for escape from the custody of the Attorney General. At the time of the admitted escape, Hall had been brought to the Ohio County Jail in West Virginia from the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia pursuant to a federal Writ of Habeas Corpus Ad Prosequendum. He contends that his escape was from state authorities rather than from the custody of the Attorney General and that the indictment charging him was defective.
The Attorney General, through the Bureau of Prisons, had previously contracted with Ohio County for the use of its jail as a location for the "safekeeping, care, and subsistence of persons held under authority of any United States statute * * *."
The crime for which Hall was convicted includes escape "from any custody under or by virtue of any process issued under the laws of the United States by any court [or] judge * * *." Since Hall was in custody under a federal Writ of Habeas Corpus, he has violated this express provision of the statute.
The indictment against Hall sufficiently apprised him of the acts he was accused of committing and of the statute he was accused of violating.
Affirmed.