Record

Court opinion

1937-12-20

CourtListener (Free Law Project), reprinting the Seventh Circuit opinion

United States v. Capone, 93 F.2d 840 (7th Cir. 1937)

The Seventh Circuit dismisses Capone's appeal from the refusal to vacate his 1931 county-jail sentences on counts 13 and 18. Decided 20 December 1937.

Date
1937-12-20
Kind
court-opinion
Retrieved
2026-10-11
Docket
93 F.2d 840 (7th Cir. 1937), No. 6372
Rights
Opinion of a United States court. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States. The text read here is CourtListener's scan-derived copy of the reported opinion.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, No. 6372. Decided December 20, 1937; rehearing denied January 21, 1938. The panel was Evans, Sparks and Major, and the opinion is by Judge Evans. Abraham Teitelbaum appeared for Capone; Michael L. Igoe, U.S. Attorney, and Warren Canaday, First Assistant, for the government.

It is the appeal from the District Court’s denial of Capone’s petition of May 28, 1937, to vacate the jail sentences imposed October 24, 1931, on counts 13 and 18. He argued the verdict was inconsistent because the jury acquitted him of evading the tax for the same years. The court held that failure to file and evasion are separate offenses, quoting the Supreme Court: “Consistency in the verdict is not necessary. Each count in an indictment is regarded as if it were a separate indictment.” It added that a District Court ordinarily cannot vacate a judgment after the term in which it was entered, and that every ground “could have been raised” in the earlier appeal, 56 F.2d 927. “The appeal is dismissed.”

This opinion says counts 13 and 18 concerned the years 1929 and 1930. The 1932 opinion and the U.S. Attorney’s summary of the indictments say 1928 and 1929. This archive notes the difference and does not resolve it. Quotations follow CourtListener’s scan-derived text, with obvious scanning errors corrected.

itemThe United States of America v. Alphonse Capone: criminal case file, Nos. 22852 and 23232National Archives file unit for the 1931 federal income-tax prosecution of Alphonse Capone in the U.S. District Court at Chicago, case numbers 22852 and 23232. The catalog lists 226 item-level descriptions under it.itemMemorandum denying petition to vacate misdemeanor sentences (12 August 1937)District Court memorandum of 12 August 1937 denying Capone's petition to vacate the county-jail sentences on counts 13 and 18. The Seventh Circuit dismissed the appeal.itemPartial transcript of evidence before Judge Wilkerson, 17 October 1931 (filed 1937)Partial transcript of proceedings before Judge James H. Wilkerson on 17 October 1931, the day of the verdict, filed in 1937 during the dispute over the jail sentences.itemOrder Amending Judgment and Sentence of October 24, 1931 (9 November 1931)Order of 9 November 1931 in D.C. No. 23232 restating the sentence on the misdemeanor counts so that the record matches the sentence announced from the bench.itemJudgment and sentence, United States v. Alphonse Capone (24 October 1931)Judgment of 24 October 1931 on counts One, Five, Nine, Thirteen and Eighteen of indictment 23232: imprisonment totaling eleven years and fines totaling $50,000, with costs of prosecution.itemJury verdict, United States v. Alphonse Capone (17 October 1931)The signed jury verdict: not guilty on indictment 22852, guilty on counts one, five, nine, thirteen and eighteen of indictment 23232, returned before Judge Wilkerson on 17 October 1931.itemCapone v. United States, 56 F.2d 927 (7th Cir. 1932)The Seventh Circuit affirms Alphonse Capone's 1931 conviction on three felony counts of attempted income-tax evasion and two misdemeanor counts of failing to file returns. Decided 27 February 1932.itemCapone v. Aderhold, Warden, 2 F. Supp. 280 (N.D. Ga. 1933)The federal court at Atlanta dismisses Capone's habeas corpus petition, which argued that his felony sentences were void under the three-year statute of limitations. Decided 25 January 1933.