Cite as: 507 U. S. 234 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
approach.17 Accordingly, to the extent that the Holmes rule rests on the premise that Molinaro's disentitlement theory by itself justifies dismissal of an appeal filed after a former fugitive is returned to custody, see 680 F. 2d, at 1374, it cannot be sustained.
Finally, Estelle's deterrence rationale, 420 U. S., at 537, offers little support for the Eleventh Circuit rule. Once jurisdiction has vested in the appellate court, as in Estelle, then any deterrent to escape must flow from appellate consequences, and dismissal may be an appropriate sanction by which to deter. Until that time, however, the district court is quite capable of defending its own jurisdiction. While a case is pending before the district court, flight can be deterred with the threat of a wide range of penalties available to the district court judge. See Katz v. United States, 920 F. 2d 610, 613 (CA9 1990) (when defendant is before district court, "disentitlement doctrine does not stand alone as a deterrence to escape").
Moreover, should this deterrent prove ineffective, and a defendant flee while his case is before a district court, the district court is well situated to impose an appropriate punishment. While an appellate court has access only to the blunderbuss of dismissal, the district court can tailor a more finely calibrated response. Most obviously, because flight is a separate offense punishable under the Criminal Code, see nn. 3-4, supra, the district court can impose a separate sentence that adequately vindicates the public interest in deter-17 Even the Eleventh Circuit, we note, seems unprepared to take such an extreme position. If appellate dismissal were indeed an appropriate sanction for all acts of judicial defiance, then there would be no reason to exempt sentencing errors from the scope of the Holmes rule. See 680 F. 2d, at 1373; supra, at 243. Whether or not Holmes' distinction between appeals from sentencing errors and appeals from convictions is logically supportable, see United States v. Anagnos, 853 F. 2d 1, 2 (CA1 1988) (questioning logic of distinction), it reflects an acknowledgment by the Eleventh Circuit that the sanction of appellate dismissal should not be wielded indiscriminately as an all-purpose weapon against defendant misconduct.
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