John Francis Bennett v. United States, 437 F.2d 1210 (5th Cir. 1971). · Go Syfert
Search
John Francis Bennett v. United States, 437 F.2d 1210 (5th Cir. 1971). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
10 citation events across 3 distinct courts.
Strongest positive: United States v. Harry William Theriault (ca5, 1971-09-16)
Top citers, strongest first. 2 distinct citers. How cited ↗
discussed Cited "see, e.g." United States v. Harry William Theriault (2×)
5th Cir. · 1971 · signal: see, e.g. · confidence low
See, e. g., Bennett v. United States, 437 F.2d 1210 (5th Cir. 1971); Skinner v. United States, 434 F. 2d 1036 (5th Cir. 1971); Walker v. United States, 424 F.2d 278 (5th Cir. 1970).
discussed Cited "see, e.g." United States v. Harry William Theriault, No. 71-1531 Summary Calendar. (1) Rule 18, 5th Cir. See Isbell Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizens Casualty Co. Of N.Y., 431 F.2d 409, Part I (5th Cir. 1970)
5th Cir. · 1971 · signal: see, e.g. · confidence low
See, e.g., Bennett v. United States, 437 F.2d 1210 (5th Cir. 1971); Skinner v. United States, 434 F.2d 1036 (5th Cir. 1971); Walker v. United States, 424 F.2d 278 (5th Cir. 1970). 3 Theriault then filed a motion in the district court seeking temporary use of a copy of the record, and that the original record, including the transcript, be made avilable to him at the institution in which he is incarcerated so that he could copy the same at a lower cost than the fees regularly charged by the district court clerk's office.
Retrieving the full opinion text from the archive…
John Francis BENNETT, Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
UNITED STATES of America, Respondent-Appellee
30719_1.
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Feb 1, 1971.
437 F.2d 1210
John Francis Bennett, pro se., John L. Briggs, U. S. Atty., Aaron K. Bowden, Asst. U. S. Atty., Jacksonville, Fla., for respondent-appellee.
Thornberry, Morgan, Clark.
Cited by 10 opinions  |  Published
[*1211] PER CURIAM:

Bennett appeals from the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of mandamus in which he sought to obtain free copies of his trial transcript and all other court documents pertaining to his conviction. We affirm. [1]

Although the appellant has no appeal or motion for collateral relief pending in any court, he asserts that as an indigent he is entitled to his own copy of his record in order to prepare a petition for post-conviction relief.

We do not agree with this contention. To the contrary, we have consistently held that a federal prisoner has no absolute right to copies of court records to search for possible defects, merely because of his status as an indigent. Skinner v. United States, 5th Cir. 1970, 434 F.2d 1036 [1970]; Walker v. United States, 5th Cir. 1970, 424 F.2d 278; Harless v. United States, 5th Cir. 1964, 329 F.2d 397.

In the recent case of Wade v. Wilson, 1970, 396 U.S. 282, 90 S.Ct. 501, 24 L.Ed.2d 470, cited by appellant, the Supreme Court indicated that under “special circumstances” where state laws and procedure entitled the indigent to have access to his transcript, as on direct appeal, he can not thereafter be denied the right to borrow an existing transcript for the purpose of framing a petition collaterally attacking his conviction. No such “special circumstances” are alleged in the instant case, nor does the appellant allege that he is being unlawfully deprived of borrowed copies of the records and files in his case. We therefore perceive no compelling reason militating in favor of a departure from this court’s previous decisions, supra. See Lucas v. United States, 6th Cir. 1970, 423 F.2d 683.

The judgment of the district court is affirmed.

Affirmed.

1

. It is appropriate to dispose of this pro se case summarily, pursuant to this Court’s Local Rule 9(c) (2), appellant having failed to file a brief within the time fixed by Rule 31, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. Kimbrough v. Beto, Director, 5th Cir. 1969, 412 F.2d 981.