United States v. Beatty

282 F. Supp. 202, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8192
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMarch 7, 1968
DocketCr. No. 27577
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 282 F. Supp. 202 (United States v. Beatty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Beatty, 282 F. Supp. 202, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8192 (D. Md. 1968).

Opinion

FRANK A. KAUFMAN, District Judge.

Beatty, Nelson Campbell and Groves were indicted in the first count of a six-count indictment, which first count alleged conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 371. William Campbell, Nelson’s brother,1 was named as a co-conspirator in the first count but was not indicted as a defendant in any of the counts. Beatty, Campbell and Groves were indicted in the second count for counterfeiting activities under 18 U.S.C. §§ 471 and 2. The third and fourth counts named Campbell as a defendant for alleged violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 474 and 2. The fifth count named Campbell and the sixth count named Beatty for alleged violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 472 and 2.2

[204]*204Groves pleaded guilty to the first count, charging conspiracy, and not guilty to the second count, and testified as a Government witness in the joint trial of Beatty and Nelson Campbell. The case was tried before a jury. Briefly, the testimony of Groves was that Beatty told Groves that Beatty was working at a press shop and could print some counterfeit money if he (Beatty) could obtain negatives; that he (Beatty) knew that Campbell had such negatives; and that Beatty felt there was some friction between himself and Campbell which made him not want to approach Campbell directly. Groves stated that he made the arrangements with Campbell under which Campbell supplied the counterfeit negatives and he (Groves) acted as the middleman between Beatty, as the printer, and Campbell, as the supplier of the negatives. Other testimony described in detail the roles played by each of the three, Campbell, Groves and Beatty.

During the trial, Beatty requested a mistrial for reasons discussed in this opinion. That motion was denied. Campbell and Beatty were each convicted by [205]*205the jury on all of the counts involving each of them respectively. Beatty thereafter filed motions for a mistrial and for a new trial, which were denied after a hearing. Because of certain developments which occurred while this Court was awaiting pre-sentence reports, which developments are related in detail in this opinion, this Court suggested that Campbell and Beatty file motions for a new trial. This they have done.

Campbell’s motion for a new trial has been granted because this Court, over Campbell’s objection, permitted Groves and two Secret Service agents to testify concerning two post-indictment conversations between Campbell and Groves, each of which conversations had been listened to by a Secret Service agent with the knowledge of Groves, but not of Campbell.

The first of such conversations occurred two days before trial. Groves testified that Campbell telephoned to him and asked if he could meet Groves and talk to him about the case. Groves arranged to meet Campbell at the house of Groves’ girl friend and notified the Secret Service. The latter sent an agent who hid behind a half-open Dutch door and listened to the conversation between Groves and Campbell. That agent and Groves testified that Campbell attempted to persuade Groves either not to testify against Campbell, or in the alternative, to name William Campbell as the person who gave Groves the negatives; and that Nelson Campbell told Groves that William would not object to Groves’ so doing.

The second conversation took place the day before the trial began. Groves, after receiving a message that Campbell wanted Groves to telephone him, went to the Secret Service office in Baltimore and permitted an agent to listen to a telephone discussion between Campbell and Groves. The conversation was similar to the one the night before.

In Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 84 S.Ct. 1199, 12 L.Ed.2d 246 (1964), a co-defendant, cooperating with the Government, without Massiah’s knowledge, met with Massiah in the co-defendant’s automobile. The Government had installed a radio transmitter in the automobile of the co-defendant. With the knowledge of the co-defendant, but without the awareness of Massiah, a federal agent listened over his radio receiver to Massiah make self-incriminating statements to the co-defendant. At the trial the agent and the co-defendant testified with regard to those statements. Mr. Justice Stewart, speaking for the majority of the Court, with Mr. Justice White, joined by Mr. Justice Clark and Mr. Justice Harlan, dissenting, wrote that Massiah had been denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel because of the use at his trial of

* * * evidence of his own incriminating words, which federal agents had deliberately elicited from him after he had been indicted and in the absence of his counsel. [Massiah v. United States, supra, at 206, 84 S.Ct. at 1203],

At the end of his opinion Mr. Justice Stewart concluded (at 207, 84 S.Ct. at 1203):

* * * We do not question that in this case, as in many cases, it was entirely proper to continue an investigation of the suspected criminal activities of the defendant and his alleged confederates, even though the defendant had already been indicted. All that we hold is that the defendant’s own incriminating statements, obtained by federal agents under the circumstances here disclosed, could not constitutionally be used by the prosecution as evidence against Mm at his trial. [Emphasis by Mr. Justice Stewart] .

In Beatty v. United States, 377 F.2d 181 (5th Cir. 1967) (a case involving a different and apparently unrelated man with the same name as the defendant Beatty in this case), a federal agent, with the consent of a secret Government informer, but without the defendant’s knowledge, hid in the trunk of the informer's automobile and listened to the [206]*206defendant make incriminating statements about himself. The District Court permitted the agent and the informer to testify concerning those statements. The Fifth Circuit, in a two-to-one decision, affirmed, distinguishing Massiah because in the latter, the co-defendant had “induced” 3 Massiah to talk, whereas, in the Fifth Circuit Beatty case, the defendant himself had initiated and “suggested”4 the conversation with the informer in order to threaten him with dire consequences if he had been informing on the defendant, and if he should testify against the defendant.

In Beatty v. United States, 389 U.S. 45, 88 S.Ct. 234, 19 L.Ed.2d 48 (1967), the Supreme Court, on October 23, 1967, three weeks after the conviction of Ronald Joseph Beatty in the case at bar, filed the following per curiam opinion:

The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted and the judgment is reversed. Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 84 S.Ct. 1199, 12 L.Ed. 2d 246.

Mr. Justice Harlan and Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
282 F. Supp. 202, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-beatty-mdd-1968.