United States v. Chaplin

54 F. Supp. 682, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2476
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedFebruary 26, 1944
DocketCr. 16617
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 54 F. Supp. 682 (United States v. Chaplin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Chaplin, 54 F. Supp. 682, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2476 (S.D. Cal. 1944).

Opinion

J. F. T. O’CONNOR, District Judge.

The defendant, Charles Spencer Chaplin, as his initial action and before plea in this case, has filed a motion to quash the indictment found and returned against him. for the alleged violation of Title 18 U.S. C.A. § 398, known as the Mann Act, on the grounds and for the reason that the grand jury which found and presented the indictment in the above entitled case was composed of grand jurors drawn from a jury box which did not contain the names of any persons of the female sex; that the Jury Commissioner in and for the Southern District of California, Central Division, and the Clerk of the United States District Court in and for said district, intentionally, systematically and entirely excluded all persons of the female sex in their selection of names available to be placed in said jury box; and that the exclusion of such persons to serve was made on account of their sex, and that only the names of the male sex were placed in the jury box, and from these names the grand jury was drawn; also that the grand jury was composed exclusively of persons of the male sex; that the exclusion of women was not by reason of any lack of accommodation for mixed juries, but on account of their sex. Defendant contends that this is a violation of Articles V and VI of the Amendments to the Constitution of the United States and that the grand jury was illegally constituted because women were excluded therefrom.

Since the beginning of the February Term, 1944, women have been members of both grand and petit juries of this *683 court. Defendant requests that, should the motion be granted, the reconsideration of this cause could then be presented to the “legally constituted grand jury” now available.

The defendant points out that if some members of the female sex had served on the grand jury, the jury would have been in a better position to weigh the testimony and credibility of the complaining witness, and that the absence of women on the grand jury injured the defendant.

The defendant also interposed a demurrer to the charge above mentioned, and contends that the facts alleged do not constitute a public offense and do not violate section 398 of the U.S.C.A., Title 18, or any statute of the United States, for the reason that the statute was intended to reach only commercial vice or traffic in women for gain, and that the language of the statute does not bring the alleged charge attempted to be set forth in the indictment in this case within the purpose, intent and purview of the statutes.

The indictment filed against the defendant on February 10, 1944 is on two counts. The first count charges transportation of a certain woman from Los Angeles to New York on or about October 5, 1942 in violation of the statute and the second count charges transportation of the same woman from New York to Los Angeles on or about October 26, 1942. The indictment does not charge that the transportation was “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery.” 18 U.S.C.A. § 398. Section 411, U.S.C.A., Title 28, provides:

“Jurors to serve in the courts of the United States, in each State respectively, shall have the same qualifications, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, and be entitled to the same exemptions, as jurors of the highest court of law in such State may have and be entitled to at the time when such jurors for service in the courts of the United States are summoned.”

This section was recently construed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Re Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, at page 64, 62 S.Ct. 457, at pages 462, 472, 86 L.Ed. 680. The court said:

“Jurors in a federal court are to have the qualifications of those in the highest court of the State, and they are to be selected by the clerk of the court and a jury commissioner. Secs. 275, 276 Jud.Code, 28 U. S.C. secs. 411, 412, 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 411, 412. This duty of selection may not be delegated. United States v. Murphy, D.C., 224 F. 554; In re Petition for Special Grand Jury, D.C., 50 F.2d 973.”

An affirmative act of the State of Illinois made women eligible for jury service. In the absence of such an act it is clear that the federal courts in Illinois were not required to have women jurors. Section 411 provides that the state laws control in respect to the qualifications and exemptions of jurors in the courts of the United States. Numerous cases are cited construing this section. See 28 U.S.C.A. § 411 and Cumulative Annual Pocket Part, 1943, wherein cases are cited.

The matter was fully considered in Re United States v. Ballard, D.C., 35 F.Supp. 105, 107. The court in the opinion reviewed carefully the constitutional and statutory provisions of the State of California, and cited the leading cases, both in the Supreme Court of the United States and in the State of California. Quoting from the decision:

“As tersely put by the Supreme Court of California, in People v. Shannon, 1928, 203 Cal. 139, 263 P. 522, 523: ‘There is nothing in the state or Federal Constitutions, or in any statute, which guarantees one accused of a crime a trial by a jury composed of men and women, or of only men, or of only women, or of any definite proportion of either sex. His right is to a fair and impartial jury, and not to a jury composed of any particular individuals. People v. Durrant, 116 Cal. 179, 199, 48 P. 75. He cannot complain if he is tried by an impartial jury, and can demand nothing more.’ ”

In the Ballard case several defendants were acquitted on the first trial and the jury disagreed as to others. A second trial was held by this court and at the opening of the trial the defendants moved to quash the indictment on the same grounds as urged in the present motion of the defendant, Chaplin. This court denied the motion. After a conviction of two of the defendants, an appeal was taken from the verdict of the jury and some fifty-two specifications of error were alleged. This objection was not considered seriously by the Circuit Court. The motion to quash, therefore, is denied. ■

The defendant calls the court’s attention to a recent case in Re United States v. Roemig, D.C., 52 F.Supp. 857, a decision by District Judge Delehant for the Northern *684 District of Iowa, decided November 23, 1943. The Iowa statute is entirely different from the California statute. Section 10842, Code of Iowa for 1939, provides:

“All qualified electors of the state, of good moral character, sound judgment, and in full possession of the senses of hearing and seeing, and who can speak, write, and read the English language, are competent jurors in their respective counties.”

The contention of the defendant is squarely met in Re People v. Manuel, 41 Cal.App. 153, 182 P. 306. The defendant was convicted of the crime of forgery.

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Related

State v. . Litteral
43 S.E.2d 84 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1947)
Cleveland v. United States
329 U.S. 14 (Supreme Court, 1946)
Ballard v. United States
329 U.S. 187 (Supreme Court, 1946)

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Bluebook (online)
54 F. Supp. 682, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-chaplin-casd-1944.