Howell v. United States

300 F. Supp. 1017, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8478
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMay 1, 1969
DocketNo. 68 C 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 300 F. Supp. 1017 (Howell v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Howell v. United States, 300 F. Supp. 1017, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8478 (N.D. Ill. 1969).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus

MAROVITZ, District Judge.

This is a petition for writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2255, wherein petitioner seeks to have vacated a 1964 conviction for conspiracy to violate the narcotics law, 21 U.S.C.' § 174. Petitioner was tried before a jury, convicted, and sentenced to twelve years imprisonment. Judgment was affirmed on appeal, United States v. Owens, 346 F.2d 329 (7th Cir. 1965), cert. denied 382 U.S. 878, 86 S.Ct. 163, 15 L.Ed.2d 119 (1965). Petitioner is presently incarcerated in the Federal Penitentiary, Terre Haute, Indiana.

Petitioner has already filed a petition to vacate his conviction alleging that he was mentally incompetent during his trial because of his use of drugs and that certain statements which were admitted at trial were made involuntarily and should not have been admitted. Judge Decker rejected both contentions. Howell v. United States, 282 F.Supp. 246 (N.D.Ill.1968). An appeal is presently pending from that decision.

In the instant action, petitioner contends that the recent decision of Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968), made retroactive by Roberts v. Russell, 392 U.S. 293, 88 S.Ct. 1921, 20 L.Ed.2d 1100 (1968), sets forth the rule that in a joint trial any out of court statement of an alleged co-conspirator which implicates another co-conspirator is inadmissible even if a cautionary instruction would be given by the court. He suggests that the guarantee of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution that an accused “be confronted with the witnesses against him,” as expounded in Bruton, was denied to him at his trial.

The Bruton decision, however, is not as expansive as petitioner would have us believe. In overruling Delli Paoli v. United States, 352 U.S. 232, 77 S.Ct. 294, 1 L.Ed.2d 278 (1956), Bruton held that, at a joint trial, the introduction into evidence of a co-defendant’s incriminating extrajudicial statements may violate a defendant’s right to confrontation and cross-examination. Given the particular factual circumstances of the case, the Supreme Court concluded that the cautionary instructions given by the judge to the jury with respect to disregarding the implicating statements were ineffective and could not overcome the great risk that defendant’s case would be prejudiced because the jury would or could not follow the instructions. The risk of prejudice was so substantial that the Court held the defendant was denied his right to confrontation. 391 U.S. 123, 127-128, 88 S.Ct. 1620.

The Bruton decision then, does not say that all hearsay is inadmissible as to all co-conspirators. Rather, it hinges on [1019]*1019two key points: one, that the incriminating hearsay statement “was clearly inadmissable against (defendant) under traditional rules of evidence” and two, that the trial court’s instructions could not overcome the risk of prejudice to defendant. 391 U.S. at 128, 88 S.Ct. at 1624. The court emphasized that

“There is not before us * * * any recognized exception to the hearsay rule insofar as petitioner is concerned and we intimate no view whatever that such exceptions necessarily raise questions under the Confrontation Clause.” Id.

Secondly, it recognized that in some cases the error of admitting inadmissible hearsay will not be reversible error because a court’s limiting instructions will be easily understood and followed. Id. at 135, 88 S.Ct. 1620. See, e. g., Frazier v. Cupp. 394 U.S. 731, 89 S.Ct. 1420, 22 L.Ed.2d 684 (April 22, 1969); United States v. Levinson, 405 F.2d 971, 988 (6th Cir. 1968); United States v. Catino, 403 F.2d 491, 496 (2d Cir. 1968).

It is the first of these two points which distinguishes petitioner’s case from the Bruton decision. Petitioner was indicted on a conspiracy charge. Under the general rule, one co-conspirator’s declarations in furtherance of the conspiracy are admissible against his co-conspirators. Lutwak v. United States, 344 U.S. 604, 617, 73 S.Ct. 481, 97 L.Ed. 593 (1953); Krulewiteh v. United States, 336 U.S. 440, 444, 69 S.Ct. 716, 93 L.Ed. 790 (1952); Schine Chain Theatres, Inc. v. United States, 334 U.S. 110, 116-117, 68 S.Ct. 947, 82 L.Ed. 1245 (1948) ; United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 393, 68 S.Ct. 525, 92 L.Ed. 746 (1948); Evans v. Dutton, 400 F.2d 826, 831 (5th Cir. 1968); United States v. Battaglia, 394 F.2d 304, 313 (7th Cir. 1968); United States v. Sapperstein, 312 F.2d 694, 698 (4th Cir. 1963). This hearsay exception has been accepted for a long while. Clune v. United States, 159 U.S. 590, 593, 16 S.Ct. 125, 40 L.Ed. 269 (1895); Mattox v. United States, 156 U.S. 237, 243-244, 15 S.Ct. 337, 39 L.Ed. 409 (1895); Logan v. United States, 144 U.S. 263, 308-309, 12 S.Ct. 617, 36 L.Ed. 429 (1892) ; United States v. Gooding, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 460, 468-470, 6 L.Ed. 693 (1827). Consequently, and in contrast to the statements which were admitted in Bruton, the hearsay statements in the instant case were, under the traditional rules of evidence, admissible against petitioner.

The Supreme Court in Bruton gave no indication, and we think none is warranted, that evidence admitted under a hearsay exception necessarily violates the Sixth Amendment confrontation clause. While the right to confrontation is framed as an absolute, the right has always been seen in its historical relation with and as an integral aspect of the general rule against the admission of hearsay evidence. McCormick, Evidence §§ 19, 223-25, 231 (1954); 5 Wigmore, Evidence §§ 1364-71, 1395-1418 (3d ed. 1940) (hereafter Wigmore). Semerjian, The Right of Confrontation, 55 A.B.A.J. 152 (1969); Comment, Federal Confrontation: A Not Very Clear Say on Hearsay, 13 U.C.L.A.L.Rev. 366, 372 (1966); Comment, Preserving the Right to Confrontation — A New Approach to Hearsay Evidence in Criminal Trials, 113 U. Pa.L.Rev. 741, 746 (1965).

Historically indistinguishablé from and the essence of the right of confrontation is the right of cross-examination. Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 418-419, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1964); Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 404, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1964); 5 Wigmore § 1395.

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Bluebook (online)
300 F. Supp. 1017, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8478, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howell-v-united-states-ilnd-1969.