Frank v. United States

Following his plea of guilty and receipt of a six year prison term for possessing heroin with the intent to distribute,1 appellant Frank filed a postconviction motion in the district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (1970). Frank alleged in his motion and supporting affidavit that the guilty plea had resulted from promises made by his attorney to Frank and members of his family that a bargain would be struck with the judge and prosecutor for a prison term of only two years. Frank further alleged that his attorney's instructions were to ""remain quiet about this at trial.""2 The district court denied the motion without a hearing after referring Frank's papers to a magistrate for scrutiny in light of the plea transcript. We affirm. In Bryan v. United States, 492 F.2d 775 (5th Cir. 1974), this court dealt en banc with the problem of determining when a federal prisoner should be afforded an evidentiary hearing in order to collaterally attack his guilty plea on the basis of alleged promises or inducements. Although we observed that ""no guilty plea which has been induced by an unkept plea bargain can be permitted to stand,"" 492 F.2d at 778, we likewise recognized that Section 2255 authorizes the district court to refuse an evidentiary hearing when ""the files and records of the case conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief"" upon his allegations. We noted that a highly relevant subject of inquiry is the plea transcript itself. 492 F.2d at 780.