United States v. John Joseph Meisch

370 F.2d 768, 1966 U.S. App. LEXIS 3841
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedDecember 30, 1966
Docket15492
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 370 F.2d 768 (United States v. John Joseph Meisch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. John Joseph Meisch, 370 F.2d 768, 1966 U.S. App. LEXIS 3841 (3d Cir. 1966).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

GANEY, Circuit Judge/

Defendant-appellant was convicted for having violated § 472 of Title 18, U.S.C. His alternative post-trial motions for judgment of acquittal and for a new trial were denied and he was sentenced to four years imprisonment. On this appeal he claims the indictment is defective because it failed to allege that he knew the Federal Reserve notes were counterfeit1 and, therefore, the court erred in denying his motion for “judgment of acquittal”.

[771]*771The indictment reads:

“On or about the 14th day of May 1964 at Edison Township, in the State and District of New Jersey,
John Joseph Meisch
with intent to defraud, did possess, pass, utter and sell to Leonard Vecchione forty-three (43) counterfeited * * * ten ($10.00) dollars Federal Reserve notes * * *.
“In violation of Title 18 U.S.C., Section 472.” (Emphasis added.)

The short answer to appellant’s claim is that the phrase “with intent to defraud” includes a charge of knowledge on the part of the defendant that the notes were counterfeit. Rua v. United States, 321 F.2d 140 (C.A.5, 1963).

Appellant sets forth a number of reasons why, in his estimation, the district court committed reversible error in refusing to grant him a new trial. Foremost among these is the trial judge’s refusal to direct the prosecution to deliver to the appellant a secret-service case report. The report was made by a government agent who testified at the trial. We conclude that the refusal was reversible error warranting the granting of a new trial.

Only two witnesses, both of them being special agents of the United States Secret Service, testified against appellant at the trial on behalf of the prosecution. The first was Casimir M. Szpak; the other was Leonard A. Vecchione, the person named in the indictment as the one to whom appellant sold the counterfeited ten-dollar notes. Szpak testified that he witnessed the transaction between Vecchione and appellant on May 14, 1964, from a vantage point sixty feet way.

During cross-examination of Szpak, defense counsel learned from him that he had made two written statements pertaining to the matters about which he testified. The first was contained in a letter, dated September 11, 1964, addressed to the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey at Newark. The second was a case report dated May 26, 1964, sent by Szpak to his superiors in Washington, D. C. Defense counsel sought permission from the trial court to see both statements, pursuant to subsection (b) of the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 3500(b)2 The trial judge, after reading the letter, directed the prosecution to place it at defense counsel’s disposal, which he did. In pertinent part, the letter stated under the heading “Details of offense”:

On or about May 14, 1964, Special Agent Leonard Vecchione, acting in an undercover capacity, met defendant Meisch at the parking area of the Cork and Bottle Bar in Edison Township, N. J. As a result of this meeting, Meisch sold 43 counterfeit $10 F R notes (Exhibit A) to S A Vecchione for $65 in official Government Funds. This sale was covered by Special Agents C. M. Szpak and B. J. Mullady.

Defense counsel then cross-examined Szpak for the purpose of bringing home to the jury that the letter was completely barren of the details of the May 14 occasion about which Szpak had testified on direct examination. It is evident, we think, that the brief notation in the letter was not meant to be a detailed disclosure of what Szpak observed on May 14, and the trial judge correctly so admonished the jury.

The case report was not in court at the time Szpak was being cross-examined, and defense counsel reserved the right to recall and further cross-examine him after the defense had read the report. When Vecchione had finished testifying, the prosecution produced a government [772]*772file containing, inter alia, a carbon copy of the case report dated May 26, 1964, signed by Szpak, and a carbon copy of the letter of September 11. After the trial judge examined all the papers in the file, he remarked that he saw nothing in them to which defense counsel was entitled that he did not already have, since he had the original letter. Aside from the case report, the other papers in the file were not pertinent to the issues involved and, therefore, appellant had no right to their production. Since defense counsel had been given the original letter, the court did not err in refusing to order that the copy be turned over to him. Rosenberg v. United States, 360 U.S. 367, 379, 79 S.Ct. 1231, 3 L.Ed.2d 1304 (1959). There was nothing in the remaining papers which related to the subject as to which Szpak had testified on the stand. However, the case report is another matter. There was information in it which specifically related to the subject matter of Szpak’s testimony. In addition to information about contacts with an informant, William C. Barker, Jr., which did not coincide with his testimony, the events of May 14th were reported substantially as told by Szpak on the witness stand and, as expected, in greater detail than in the letter.

The fact that Szpak’s testimony was more revealing than the case report is not a valid reason for refusing to permit the defense to see it. This is not the test under the statute. The purpose of requiring the delivery to a defendant of a prior statement “which relates to the subject matter as to which a witness has testified” is not solely to provide him a means of obtaining information divulged by the witness’s testimony, but to give him an opportunity to use it as he deems fit for trial purposes. “[W]hether the statements may be useful for purposes of impeachment is a decision which rests, of course, with the defendant himself.” Scales v. United States, 367 U.S. 203, 258, 81 S.Ct. 1469, 1501, 6 L.Ed.2d 782 (1961). In Campbell v. United States, 373 U.S. 487, 497, footnote 13, 83 S.Ct. 1356, 10 L.Ed. 2d 501, the Supreme Court pointed out that under Jencks v. United States, 353 U.S. 657, 677-678, 77 S.Ct. 1007, 1501, 1 L.Ed.2d 1103, a showing of inconsistency as a prerequisite to the production of documents is unnecessary. See also Lewis v. United States, 340 F.2d 678 (C.A.8); United States v. Prince, 264 F.2d 850, 852 (C.A.3). Nevertheless, as has been indicated earlier, it affirmatively appears that the report could have been advantageously used by the defense to impeach Szpak concerning his testimony of events about the informant,. Barker, who accompanied Vecchione to the parking area of the Cork and Bottle Bar in Edison Township. The refusal of the trial judge to direct the prosecution to deliver the May 26, 1964, report, with such portions which did not relate to the subject matter of Szpak’s testimony deleted, to the appellant for his use at the trial was not harmless error. See United States v.

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

Related

Smith v. Government of the Virgin Islands
51 V.I. 712 (Virgin Islands, 2009)
Commonwealth v. Murphy
877 N.E.2d 604 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2007)
United States v. Eastern Medical Billing, Inc.
230 F.3d 600 (Third Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Robert B. Smith III
97 F.3d 1453 (Sixth Circuit, 1996)
Laster v. State
521 A.2d 1289 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1987)
United States v. Butts
535 F. Supp. 608 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1982)
Commonwealth v. Guess
404 A.2d 1330 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1979)
United States v. Vernon Earl Walden
590 F.2d 85 (Third Circuit, 1979)
United States v. Ann Marie Maselli
534 F.2d 1197 (Sixth Circuit, 1976)
Cupp v. Naughten
414 U.S. 141 (Supreme Court, 1973)
United States v. Norman F. Lefevre
483 F.2d 477 (Third Circuit, 1973)
Pueblo v. París Medina
101 P.R. Dec. 253 (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 1973)
United States v. Lucianetti
369 F. Supp. 358 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1972)
United States v. William Edward Finnerty
470 F.2d 78 (Third Circuit, 1972)
People v. Nazario Nieves
100 P.R. 230 (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 1971)
Pueblo v. Nazario Nieves
100 P.R. Dec. 232 (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
370 F.2d 768, 1966 U.S. App. LEXIS 3841, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-john-joseph-meisch-ca3-1966.