Peter J. Pallotta v. United States

404 F.2d 1035, 1968 U.S. App. LEXIS 4473
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedDecember 13, 1968
Docket7090
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 404 F.2d 1035 (Peter J. Pallotta v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peter J. Pallotta v. United States, 404 F.2d 1035, 1968 U.S. App. LEXIS 4473 (1st Cir. 1968).

Opinion

COFFIN, Circuit Judge.

On June 13, 1967, a robbery occurred at the Durham Trust Company in Durham, New Hampshire. Appellant was arrested in Paterson, New Jersey, on August 8, 1967, and was subsequently indicted by a New Hampshire Federal Grand Jury for the offense. 1 After a five day trial appellant was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.

I — Exclusion of Newspaper Story

The first error alleged by appellant is the trial court’s refusal to admit into evidence a newspaper article on the bank robbery authored by Mrs. Terry Milton, the government’s eyewitness. The -court excluded the article on the grounds that “A newspaper is hearsay”. The court may have been misled by the fact that there were two newspaper accounts in existence — one by Mrs. Milton and one by another reporter. The latter article was clearly unusable for any purpose but such was not the case with Mrs. Milton’s article. There was no question of authentication since the article was identified and its authorship admitted by Mrs. Milton during the course of her testimony.

Mrs. Milton was the government’s only eyewitness and it is fair to say that her testimony was a critical element in the government’s proof. While the differences between her newspaper account and her testimony at the trial were not so substantial as appellant claims (and indeed certain of these differences are unfavorable to appellant), the appellant was entitled to have the jury evaluate Mrs. Milton’s testimony in the light of cross-examination based on her account, written at a time shortly after the commission of the crime.

While the newspaper account was clearly usable for purposes of impeachment, it was not admissible as an exhibit. The colloquy and offer of proof were consistent with an effort to impeach through cross-examination on the basis of the account but no clear statement to this effect was made. It is possible that the court believed that the newspaper article was being offered as an exhibit. Indeed, much of appellant’s brief on this point proceeds on the theory that the document was admissible. Since, however, there must be a new trial for other reasons, we do not now say that the court’s laconic ruling was reversible error.

II — Jencks Act Statements

Secondly, appellant objects to the trial court’s procedure concerning the production of Jencks Act statements. Specifically, appellant contends that the trial court erred in failing to provide for receipt of the statements in the absence of the jury and in failing to call a recess in order to give defense counsel an opportunity to study the statements.

Appellant, however, made no effort to obtain access to the Jencks Act statements in the absence of the jury *1037 and made no motion for a recess. He merely asked for and received time to study them. The gratuitous remarks of the court on the occasion of the first examination of a statement that he was not going to call a recess was not preceded by a request or followed by an objection, Under these circumstances, we can find no plain error

In the interest of clarifying procedure in future cases, however, we make the following comments. Section 3500 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which grants the right of examination of pretrial statements of government witnesses, is silent as to the conditions which should surround the examination. Yet there exists the possibility of prejudice both to the defense and the prosecution, If defense counsel, after requesting and examining a statement before the jury, decides not to use it in cross-examining a witness, he runs the risk that a jury may infer that the statement was consistent with the testimony, resulting indirectly in accomplishing what cannot be done by the prosecution directly — using prior consistent statements to corroborate its own unimpeached witness. This danger has led the District of Columbia Circuit to declare it reversible error to require that requests and examination be made in the presence of the jury. Gregory v. United States, 125 U.S.App.D.C. 140, 369 F.2d 185 (1966). Moreover, we can appreciate the likelihood that requiring defense counsel to read a possibly long and detailed statement for the first time and to decide its utility for cross-examination under the wondering eyes of a jury may add psychological burdens which are neither necessary nor helpful in securing a fair trial g * t1-

On the other hand, if Jencks Act statements are used in cross-examination with no indication how they came into the hands of defense counsel, the prosecution runs the risk that the jury will infer that it has concealed important information, See United States v. Gardin, 382 F.2d 601 (2d Cir. 1967).

We are unwilling to promulgate a ^arc^ an<^ ru^e- Undoubtedly in sorne cases Jencks Act statements should ^e produced and studied in the physical absence of the jury. This would be particularly true where a witness’ testimony is lengthy and complicated, or is especial-]y crucial in the context of a given trial, On the other hand, there will be many cases where it will be sufficient to produce the statements out of the hearing of the jury and to call a recess without excusing the jury from the courtroom, Thus, when defense counsel desires production of Jencks Act statements, he should be allowed to make such a request before the bench out of the hearing of the jury. If defense counsel so requests, the court can determine at that time whether it is necessary to remove the jury from the courtroom. If the statements are used in cross-examination, the jury should be informed of the source of the questions and the statutory authority governing the use of such statements. These procedures should be followed in this circuit in trials commencing after the date of publication of the opinjon jn this case,

ni-FBI Agent Lucksted’s Testimony

At the trial the government called FBI agent Lucksted to testify concerning an interview conducted with the appellant on June 26, 1967, in Paterson, New Jersey, Appellant contends that it was error to admit Lucksted s testimony because ap-was not apprised of his constitutional rights as required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 10 A.L.R.3d 974 (1965), and Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977 (1964). When defense counsel objected on voir dire to the admission of this testimony, 2 the trial court ruled that the testimony *1038 was admissible but the reasons given were at best ambiguous. 3

While the court found that appellant was warned of his constitutional rights, it also seemed to say that the warnings were not required. Moreover, it seemed to say that if defendant were not in a situation requiring Miranda warnings, something less would do.

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Bluebook (online)
404 F.2d 1035, 1968 U.S. App. LEXIS 4473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peter-j-pallotta-v-united-states-ca1-1968.