United States v. Eisler

75 F. Supp. 640, 1948 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2999
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedFebruary 2, 1948
DocketCr. No. 376-47
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 75 F. Supp. 640 (United States v. Eisler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Eisler, 75 F. Supp. 640, 1948 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2999 (D.D.C. 1948).

Opinion

MORRIS, Justice.

The defendant was indicted in three counts for alleged false and fraudulent statements made by him in an application to the Secretary of State for an alien departure permit. Upon appropriate motions, the first two counts, which charged a violation of Section 80, Title 18 U.S.C.A., the statute covering in general false and fraudulent statements, were dismissed, and bills of particulars were required and furnished with respect to certain of the allegations in the third count, which charged a violation of Section 223, Title 22 U.S.C.A., the statute specifically making it a crime “knowingly to make any false statement in an application for permission to depart from * * * the United States with intent to induce or secure the granting of such permission.” The defendant was tried upon the third count and found guilty. The trial commenced July 14, 1947, and concluded August IS, 1947. The transcript of the proceedings numbered 4004 pages, and the number of exhibits is ninety-one. Subsequently motions were made on behalf of [642]*642the defendant in arrest of judgment, for new trial, and for judgment not withstanding the verdict. A hearing was had upon said motions on October 30, 1947, and memorandum brief was filed on behalf of the defendant. Thereafter government counsel were requested to furnish a memorandum in reply to the discussion in defendant’s memorandum brief with respect to one of the grounds which will hereinafter be discussed. Such memorandum was received December .1, 1947, to which defendant’s counsel made reply, which was received December 16, 1947.

Some of the grounds upon which the motions are based are those considered upon the motion to dismiss the indictment and discussed in my memorandum dated and filed July 3, 1947, 75 F.Supp. 634. The remaining grounds were treated, both in oral argument and in memorandum briefs, under an arrangement of subjects somewhat different from the statement of grounds in the motions. For convenience, the discussion here will follow generally the grouping of grounds used in argument.

I. The defendant insists that he was prejudiced and deprived of a fair trial because of alleged prejudicial and inflammatory statements made by government counsel, and by alleged inflammatory questions asked by government counsel in the presence of the jury. Each of the instances cited by defendant has been carefully considered. Although certain statements were made by counsel during the protracted trial and certain questions were asked by counsel, which were not considered proper, in my judgment, nothing occurred in the presence of the jury sufficient to divert the minds of the jury from the essential issues of the case, nor to cause them to reach a verdict induced by anything other than a calm and deliberate consideration of the evidence germane to those issues.

II. The defendant complains that the court was in error with respect to the admission of certain evidence tending to prove membership in or affiliation with the Communist Party when no specific bill of particulars had put the defendant on notice as to the times and places thereof. Bills of particulars had been required and furnished with respect to the times and places of the use of certain names other than Gerhart Eisler, stating that such names at such times and places were used in connection with communist activities. Wh.en the court, therefore, restricted the Government in its evidence respecting membership in or affiliation with the Communist Party to such occasions as had been identified in connection with the use of the names, which were particularized, it was, and is now, considered to be in the interest of, and not prejudicial to, the defendant. All evidence of the so-called Communist International which came into the case, and much was excluded, was simply explanatory of and incidental to testimony and evidence properly admitted. Repeatedly throughout the trial it was emphasized by the court, and I am confident understood by the jury, that the existence or nonexistence of the Communist International was in no sense an issue in the case. In these circumstances, I cannot see that it was prejudicial to deny leave to take the depositions in foreign countries, which was asked during the course of the trial, with respect to the existence and character of the Communist International.

III. The defendant asserts that all government employees should have been excluded from the jury in this case, and that the failure so to do prevented him from securing a fair trial. This contention is based primarily upon the proposition that government employees were subject to investigation and separation from the service for communist affiliation or sympathy. Great care was exercised in the choice of the jurors to determine whether or not this policy of the Government would have any effect upon the action of each one selected, and it definitely and affirmatively appeared that no government employee selected would consider himself or herself in any jeopardy with respect to employment because of any action taken as a juror in this case, and that they would entertain no prejudice against the defendant, if it were shown that he was a member of or affiliated with the Communist Party, which would prevent any one of them from acting as a fair and impartial juror. In these circumstances, it would be unfair and arbi[643]*643trary to impute such prejudice or fear on the part of those members of the jury who were government employees, and there is no ground for so doing.

IV. The defendant asserts that the court erred in refusing to take certain issues from the jury. I agree with the defendant that, if there was no evidence sufficient to sustain a verdict of guilty on any one of the several matters charged in the indictment, such matter should have been withdrawn from the jury’s consideration. Of course, this does not mean that the verdict is invalid in the event the jury did not agree that the defendant was guilty of every one of the matters considered by them. In my view, there was sufficient evidence to submit all of such matters to the jury. I cannot agree with the defendant that there was a fatal variance between the indictment and the bills of particulars with respect to the Communist Party; nor can I agree with the contention made that the term “affiliation” was such that the defendant could not reasonably be expected to know that his association atid activities with the Communist Party in the several countries charged, with the exception of Germany, in which country he was a member, constituted affiliation. I cannot agree with the defendant’s contention that the evidence was such that the jury must conclude that his failure to state his residence in the United States during the years 1935 and 1936 was due to a reasonable misinterpretation of the meaning of the term "residence” or “reside.” The comment in defendant’s memorandum brief with respect to what the defendant terms “a ruling that the jury could find residence even if the defendant had stayed only one day in a place (R. 3739-3740)” lifts a statement made by the court, not in the presence of the jury, completely out of its contextual relation to activities of the defendant at such place, which should be revealed. I do not consider the actual instructions, taken as a whole, given to the jury respecting residence to be improper. The defendant did treat his presence in other countries during such period as residence. There was sufficient evidence, in my opinion, to submit to the jury the question of the use by the defendant of the several names charged in the indictment.

V.

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Related

United States v. O'CONNOR
135 F. Supp. 590 (District of Columbia, 1955)
Eisler v. United States
176 F.2d 21 (D.C. Circuit, 1949)

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Bluebook (online)
75 F. Supp. 640, 1948 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2999, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-eisler-dcd-1948.