United States v. Robert Harris Cartwright, A/K/A William J. Cartwright

JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judge:

This appeal requires us to decide whether it is lawful for a court to revoke an individual’s probation before it actually begins without giving him written notice of the charges which serve as the basis for revocation. Our decision is that it is not, so we must, therefore, reverse the judgment of the district court.

I

Robert Harris Cartwright was convicted by a jury of several counts of unlawful activities in his dealings with a number of financial institutions. 1 Specific details about his criminal conduct need not be repeated here as they are summarized in our…