Tuten v. United States (460 U.S. 660)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 30, 1983 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 460 U.S. 660 · 103 S. Ct. 1412
- Decided
- March 30, 1983
- Term
- October Term 1982
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Marshall
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court. This case presents the question whether a conviction upon which a youth offender was sentenced to probation under the Federal Youth Corrections Act of 1950, 18 U. S. C. §5005 et seq., was automatically set aside after he served his full term of probation. I In 1971 petitioner Melvin Tuten, who was 19 years old, pleaded guilty to the charge of carrying a pistol without a license in violation of D. C. Code §22-3204 (1981). He was placed on probation for two years under the Federal Youth Corrections Act of 1950 (YCA), 18 U. S. C. § 5005 et seq. At the end of the 2-year probationary period, petitioner was unconditionally discharged from the YCA program. In 1980 petitioner was tried and convicted of carrying a pistol without a license under the same provision of the D. C. Code. The prosecutor urged that petitioner’s previous conviction made him subject to the enhanced penalty provided by D. C. Code § 22-3204 (1981) for one who previously “has been convicted in the District of Columbia of a violation of this section.” The trial judge agreed and, based on the earlier conviction, sentenced petitioner as a felon rather than a misdemeanant. The judge imposed a sentence of two to six years’ imprisonment. On appeal to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, petitioner contended that the earlier conviction could not properly provide…
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