United States v. Haskell

217 F. Supp. 534, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9349
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedJanuary 29, 1963
DocketCrim. No. 10306
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 217 F. Supp. 534 (United States v. Haskell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Haskell, 217 F. Supp. 534, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9349 (D. Conn. 1963).

Opinion

TIMBERS, District Judge.

Defendant Jerome J. Haskell, after a ten day trial, was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to evade income taxes.1 He was sentenced to one year and a day in jail, fined $5,000 and ordered to pay the costs of prosecution.

He has moved, pursuant to Rule 29, Fed.R.Crim.Proc., to set aside the verdict and enter judgment of acquittal; or, pursuant to Rule 33, for a new trial; or, pursuant to Rule 35, to reduce sentence.

The Government has moved to dismiss defendant’s motions under Rules 29 and 33 on the ground they were not filed within the time prescribed by law and the Court therefore lacks jurisdiction.

[536]*536i

DEFENDANT’S MOTIONS TO SET ASIDE VERDICT AND ENTER JUDGMENT OF ACQUITTAL OR FOR A NEW TRIAL AND GOVERNMENT’S MOTION TO DISMISS SAID MOTIONS

Upon return of the verdict November 2, 1962, the Court, on application of defendant’s counsel, extended to November 15, 1962 his time to file motions pursuant to Rules 29 and 33. No motions were filed within the time extended. November 19, 1962, on application of defendant’s counsel, the Court further extended to November 28, 1962 his time to file motions. Again December 3, 1962, on application of defendant’s counsel, the Court further extended to December 10, 1962 his time to file motions. Defendant’s Rule 29 and Rule 33 motions were filed December 7, 1962. .Defendant does not allege newly discovered evidence as a ground for his Rule 33 motion.

The Government moves to dismiss these motions on the ground that defendant’s failure to file them on or before November 15, 1962 caused the Court to lose jurisdiction over the motions and the Court’s extensions of time to file the motions after November 15, 1962 were nullities.

The Government’s position is correct.2 Accordingly, defendant’s motions pursuant to Rules 29 and 33 are dismissed.

Since defendant’s motions, although not timely, raise issues with respect to (A) the Court’s charge and (B) disclosure of defendant’s criminal record, which were raised at the trial and presumably will be raised on appeal, a brief statement of the facts of record with respect to these issues may be in order.

(A)

COURT’S CHARGE

Defendant’s chief criticism of the charge is directed at that portion, set out in the margin,3 of the Court’s preliminary remarks in an attempt to indicate to the jury the competing interests involved in this case. Defendant’s motion papers make no reference to the balance of the Court’s preliminary remarks, set out in the margin,4 which im[537]*537mediately follows the portion complained of.

At the conclusion of the charge when defendant’s counsel took exception to that portion of the charge here complained of (Tr. 1347-1348), the Court sustained the exception (Tr. 1360-1361), called the jury back before it began to deliberate, and gave the following instruction (Tr. 1365):

“THE COURT: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I think this will be quite brief. Since the charge was completed, as I told you, counsel have had an opportunity to direct the Court’s attention to certain matters that they have a right to do, exceptions have been taken, objections noted, and so forth.
“The upshot of which is, there are three corrections, additions, changes in the charge that I would like to bring to your attention.
“Number one, at the beginning of the charge, when I spoke to you sort of informally, indicating the competing interests involved in this case, I made the following statement to you, which I should like to retract and ask you to totally disregard it. It is this statement in which I said, 'There is, in the language of the Supreme Court of the United States, no more serious crime than the crime of defeating or evading income taxes, or a conspiracy to do so.’
“Without burdening you with the details for it, I ask you to totally disregard that statement.”

(B)

DISCLOSURE OF DEFENDANT’S CRIMINAL RECORD

Defendant’s claim that he was prejudiced by the circumstances under [538]*538which his criminal record was disclosed at the -trial, may perhaps be best evaluated in the light of the following facts of record.

1. First reference to defendant’s criminal record was made by defendant’s counsel on his direct examination of defendant. Defendant testified on direct examination that in 1934 or 1935 he was “convicted of a crime of petit larceny” and that since 1934 or 1935 he had not been convicted of any crime except speeding (Tr. 866-867). It is to be noted, as presently will appear, that defendant’s testimony on direct examination was incorrect (i) as to the date of his conviction for petit larceny and (ii) as to his record being clear since 1934 or 1935 except for a speeding conviction. It should be noted further that it was defendant — not the Government — who injected into this case his convictions for petit larceny and speeding.

2. On cross examination, defendant was asked by the United States Attorney, without objection by defendant’s counsel, whether he had not been convicted of grand larceny rather than petit larceny and whether the conviction had not been on August 26, 1942 (Tr. 1028, 1032). Defendant denied any conviction of grand larceny.

3. The record shows that defendant’s counsel was apprised about a week earlier (Tr. 1033, 1108) by the United States Attorney of the latter’s information that defendant had been convicted of grand larceny and of the Government’s intention to askdefendnntaboutthis convicDon at the trial (Tr. 1112-1114):

“MR. ZAMPANO: I think, your Honor, I should say this: A copy was not furnished, but I did inform Mr. Costa of the grand larceny conviction, that I thought Mr. Haskell
“At that time — and he is here, and we can ask him — he said, ‘May
I’ — ‘Would you give me the exact date, please, and the place?’ and I certainly did. And I believe we discussed some of the other parts of the record that I could not get in.
“I believe at that time Mr. Costa was surprised at this record,
COSTA: That part is absolutely true, if your Honor please, ^ d*d merely want to state for the information of the Court, and for the record, that the reason I took issue with Mr. Zampano’s remark this morning concerning this paper is -that I never saw the paper. But Mr. Zampano did inform me of this grand larceny question, along with gome other questiong<
“I told Mr. Zampano at that time that j wouId discuss it with my client, and delve into it. I did delve into that matter ^ ^P1^. and having delved into it, I was satisfied that Mr. Haskell had never been charged with — or, excuse me — had never been convicted of grand, but had been convicted of petty larceny.
“And I was aware that he was going to so testify.
“MR. ZAMPANO: You didn’t tell me that.
COSTA: No. I did not tell you‘
“MR. ZAMPANO: Because, as an officei, your HonOTj if j had the slightest question, I certainly would never have asked this man this question.”

4.

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Bluebook (online)
217 F. Supp. 534, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-haskell-ctd-1963.