United States Ex Rel. Coy v. United States
Headline: Late certiorari petition dismissed under criminal Rule XI, blocking Supreme Court review and leaving the 1937 bank-robbery conviction and lower-court rulings intact while deadlines are enforced.
Holding: The Court dismissed the petition for certiorari because the person convicted in 1937 filed it more than thirty days after the appeals court judgment, violating Rule XI’s thirty-day limit and leaving the conviction unreviewed.
- Blocks Supreme Court review when certiorari petition is filed after Rule XI’s thirty-day deadline.
- Reinforces strict 30-day deadline for criminal-case certiorari petitions in this Court.
- Leaves the underlying conviction and lower-court rulings in place without Supreme Court review.
Summary
Background
In 1937 a person was tried and convicted for taking money from a bank and related violent counts. He received consecutive prison sentences and did not appeal immediately. Two years later he asked the trial court to set aside one sentence; the court said it lacked jurisdiction because its term had ended. He then sought permission to appeal, the appeals court affirmed the denial, and a petition for Supreme Court review was filed more than thirty days after the appeals court judgment.
Reasoning
The central question was whether the Court’s Criminal Rules or a statutory three-month rule applied to the timing of a petition for certiorari in this situation. The Court explained that the Criminal Rules were adopted to speed criminal appeals and that Rule XI explicitly requires petitions for certiorari in criminal cases to be filed within thirty days of the appellate judgment. Even though the Rules omitted a short time for that specific interlocutory appeal to the Circuit Court, Rule XI still governs petitions for certiorari as a subsequent criminal-case proceeding. Because the petition arrived too late under Rule XI, the Court lacked jurisdiction to decide the case.
Real world impact
The Court dismissed the petition for certiorari for failing to meet Rule XI’s thirty-day deadline, so the conviction and lower-court rulings remain unreviewed by this Court. The opinion enforces strict timing for criminal-case petitions and leaves open whether the defendant may seek relief again in the trial court.
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