United States v. Gilboy

160 F. Supp. 442, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2512
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 6, 1958
DocketCrim. 12880
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 160 F. Supp. 442 (United States v. Gilboy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Gilboy, 160 F. Supp. 442, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2512 (M.D. Pa. 1958).

Opinion

MURPHY, Chief Judge.

Defendants, indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States, 18 U.S.C.A. § 371, move to dismiss the indictment; Fed.Rules Crim.Proc. Rule 12(b) (2), 18 U.S.C.A.; 1 Green, Rochez and Raff for a *447 bill of particulars, Rule 7(f) ; Green, Raff and Brown for a severance, Rule 14; Green to transfer the place of trial, within the district, from Scranton to Harrisburg, cf. Rule 19; Gilboy, Green, Rochez and Raff for discovery and inspection, Rule 16; supplemented by Gilboy and Green with a subpoena duces tecum, Rule 17(c); Raff for a copy of his Grand Jury testimony, Rule 6(c); Rochez (with four supporting affidavits) to take testimony in support of his motion to dismiss. Rochez Bros. Inc., Specialty Steel Products Inc., Consolidated Construction Co. of New Jersey, each petitioned for return of their corporate records. The government moved to quash the subpoenas; 2 to impound the corporate records.

A Grand Jury duly impaneled 3 and sworn, inquiring into whether any violations of Federal Criminal laws occurred in the construction, by the Department of the United States Army and the Army Corps of Engineers, of the Tobyhanna Signal Depot, a military installation, in this district, 4 after many months of investigation, indicted all seven defendants, 5 charging them with con *448 spiracy to defraud the United States, 6 described in great detail the modus operandi 7 and recited thirty-nine overt

acts (two or more by each defendant, many of them in this district) to effect the object of a conspiracy. 8

*451 The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure designed to eliminate technicalities in criminal pleading and to be construed to secure simplicity in procedure (see Rule 2) provide in Rule 7(c), “The indictment * * * shall be a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged. * * * It need not contain * * * any other matter not necessary to such statement.” See United States v. Debrow, 1953, 346 U.S. 374, at page 376, 74 S.Ct. 113, 98 L.Ed. 92; United States v. Achtner, 2 Cir., 1944, 144 F.2d 49, at page 51; United States v. Amorosa, 3 Cir., 1948, 167 F.2d 596, at page 598; United States v. Martinez, D.C.M.D.Pa.1947, 73 F.Supp. 403, at pages 406-407; Berger v. United States, 1935, 295 U.S. 78, at page 82, 55 S.Ct. 629, 79 L.Ed. 1314. United States v. Debrow, supra, cites with approval from Hagner v. United States, 1932, 285 U.S. 427, at page 431, 52 S.Ct. 417, 419, 76 L.Ed. 861, “The true test of the sufficiency of an indictment is not whether it could have been made more definite and certain, but whether it contains the elements of the offense intended to be charged, ‘and sufficiently apprises the defendant of what he must be prepared to meet, and, in case any other proceedings are taken against him for a similar offense, whether the record shows with accuracy to what extent he may plead a former acquittal or conviction.’ Cochran and Sayre v. United States, 157 U.S. 286, 290, 15 S.Ct. 628, 630, 39 L.Ed. 704; Rosen v. United States, 161 U.S. 29, 34, 16 S.Ct. 434 [435], 480, 40 L.Ed. 606.” And see United States v. Crummer, 10 Cir., 1945, 151 F.2d 958, 962; United States v. Michener, 3 Cir., 1945, 152 F. 2d 880, at page 886.

An indictment charging a conspiracy ordinarily is sufficient if it follows the language of the statute and contains a sufficient description of the object of the conspiracy and a sufficient statement of an overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy. Mad-sen v. United States, 10 Cir., 1947, 165 F.2d 507, at page 510, and see United States v. Amorosa, supra, 167 F.2d at page 598; 9 Jelke v. United States, *452 7 Cir., 1918, 255 F. 264, at pages 275, 276-279; Rudner v. United States, 6 Cir., 1922, 281 F. 516, at page 518; Hill v. United States, 4 Cir., 1930, 42 F.2d 812, at page 814; Caywood v. United States, 9 Cir., 1956, 232 F.2d 220, 224; Potter v. United States, 1894, 155 U.S. 438, at page 444, 15 S.Ct. 144, 39 L.Ed. 214. Every element of the offense being set forth in the earlier part of the indictment, there is no necessity of repeating it. Evans v. United States, 1894, 153 U. S. 584, at page 590, 14 S.Ct. 934, 38 L. Ed. 830.

While it is essential to the validity of an indictment that it shall advise the defendant of the nature and cause of the accusation (VI Amend. U. S. Constitution) and provide an ascertainable standard of guilt (V Amend. U. S. Constitution) and see Screws v. United States, 1945, 325 U.S. 91, at page 95, 65 S.Ct. 1031, 89 L.Ed. 1495, “It is well settled that in an indictment for conspiring to commit an offense — in which the conspiracy is the gist of the crime— it is not necessary to allege with technical precision all the elements essential to the commission of the offense which is the object of the conspiracy, Williamson v. United States, 207 U.S. 425, 447, 28 S.Ct. 163, 52 L.Ed. 278, or to state such object with the detail which would be required in an indictment for committing the substantive offense, * * *. In charging such a conspiracy ‘certainty to a common intent, sufficient to identify the offense which the defendants conspired to commit, is all that is necessary.’ Williamson v. United States, supra, 207 U.S. 447, 28 S.Ct. 171 * * * ” Wong Tai v. United States, 1927, 273 U.S. 77, at page 81, 47 S.Ct. 300, at page 301, 71 L.Ed. 545; Thornton v. United States, 1926, 271 U.S. 414, at page 423, 46 S.Ct. 585, 70 L.Ed. 1013. 10

When the object of the conspiracy is the accomplishment of an unlawful act, the means by which the unlawful act is to be accomplished need not be set forth, Pettibone v. United States, 1893, 148 U.S. 197, at page 203, 13 S.Ct. 542, 37 L.Ed. 419; Rose v. United States, 9 Cir., 1945, 149 F.2d 755, at page 758, nor are particularity of time, place, circumstances, causes, etc., in stating the manner and means of effecting the object of a conspiracy essential to an indictment. Glasser v. United States, 1942, 315 U.S. 60, at page 66, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680. It is not necessary to set forth matters of evidence. Bannon and Mulkey v. United States, 1895, 156 U.S. 464, at page 469, 15 S.Ct. 467, 39 L.Ed. 494. As to pleading an overt act, Dealy v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Kosovsky
506 F. Supp. 43 (W.D. Oklahoma, 1980)
United States v. Moore
423 F. Supp. 858 (S.D. West Virginia, 1976)
In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Berkovitz
367 F. Supp. 1058 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1973)
United States v. Mitchell
372 F. Supp. 1239 (S.D. New York, 1973)
United States v. Lewis
363 F. Supp. 614 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1973)
United States v. Wilson
356 F. Supp. 463 (D. Maryland, 1973)
United States v. Ahmad
53 F.R.D. 194 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 1971)
United States v. Machi
324 F. Supp. 153 (E.D. Wisconsin, 1971)
United States v. Demangone
322 F. Supp. 989 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1971)
United States v. Cullen
305 F. Supp. 695 (E.D. Wisconsin, 1969)
United States v. Projansky
44 F.R.D. 550 (S.D. New York, 1968)
Sheridan v. Garrison
273 F. Supp. 673 (E.D. Louisiana, 1967)
Shifflett v. State
225 A.2d 440 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1967)
United States v. Joseph H. Cudia and John Turner
346 F.2d 227 (Seventh Circuit, 1965)
Escobedo v. Illinois
378 U.S. 478 (Supreme Court, 1964)
United States v. Mayo
230 F. Supp. 85 (S.D. New York, 1964)
United States v. Blasius
230 F. Supp. 995 (S.D. New York, 1964)
Commonwealth v. COHEN
199 A.2d 139 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1964)
United States v. Ward Baking Company
224 F. Supp. 66 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
160 F. Supp. 442, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2512, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gilboy-pamd-1958.