United States v. Walker

190 F.2d 481, 1951 U.S. App. LEXIS 2447
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided July 10, 1951·No. 21978_1·Published·Cited by 39 cases

Opinions

CHASE, Circuit Judge.

Following the reversal by this court of his former conviction, the appellant was again tried by jury upon the same indictment and was found guilty and sentenced.

The indictment charged in one count that, on or about February 17, 1947, he transported the sum of approximately $26,-000.00 in interstate commerce from Houston, Texas, to New York, N. Y., knowingly and willfully in violation of the provisions of § 415 of Title 18 U.S.C.1 The second count was like the first except that the sum of money was alleged to be approximately $23,500.00 and the transportation on or about June 1, 1947.

The facts as stated in our former opinion 2 are so close to what was shown in this trial that we shall assume familiarity with them and take up at once the grounds upon which the appellant relies for reversal, adding only such facts as may be necessary to a disposition of the new points now made and following our former decision as to those which were raised before.

There no question was raised as to the sufficiency of the indictment and it was treated sub silentio as good. Now it is argued that each count was fatally defective because instead of alleging that “money” of a stated value was transported it refers to the “sum” of a stated amount of dollars. It would be hard to think of a more insubstantial objection to the indictment and it should not detain us long. [483]*483Surely since Rule 7(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.A., became effective such a finely spun attack on an indictment is fruitless. There was a clear compliance with that rule and no more was necessary. United States v. Josephson, 2 Cir., 165 F.2d 82, certiorari denied 333 U.S. 838, 68 S.Ct. 609, 92 L.Ed. 1122. Moreover, a bill of particulars was filed by the government which removes any possibility of prejudice to the defendant.

It is argued that when Mrs. Ashe delivered the two checks to the defendant she intended to pass the title to him, and that it was error for the court to deny a request to charge the jury that if it was found that she so intended he was not guilty as charged in the indictment. This, however, leaves entirely out of account the element of deceit by which, according to substantial evidence, he induced her to obtain the checks and deliver them to him. The statute covers the transportation of money obtained by fraud regardless of title, see Davilman v. United States, 6 Cir., 180 F.2d 284, and the failure to charge as requested was not erroneous.

Before the trial, the appellant moved to suppress evidence which had been obtained by a government agent in a search of his luggage after his arrest and while he was in jail. The luggage had been seized and some of it searched, in the hotel room occupied by Mrs. Ashe, who then thought she was the appellant’s wife, and both the agent’s entry into the hotel room and the seizure and search of the luggage were consented to by her. The motion to suppress the evidence thus obtained was rightly denied, for the appellant had no right to object to the search of premises not occupied by him nor to the seizure of property not within his possession. United States v. Reiburn, 2 Cir., 127 F.2d 525; United States v. Ebeling, 2 Cir., 146 F.2d 254. Cf. Stein v. United States, 9 Cir., 166 F.2d 851, certiorari denied 334 U.S. 844, 68 S.Ct. 1512, 92 L.Ed. 1768. In connection with the motion to suppress, appellant’s counsel moved for the production of the F. B. I. report of the investigation, for examination by the court, “to test the credibility” of the agent. Mrs. Ashe, as well as the agent, had testified to the circumstances of the search, and we are unable to conclude that the denial of this motion was seriously prejudicial to the appellant because of the possibility that something in the report might have been inconsistent with the agent’s testimony at the hearing.

The appellant’s counsel in summation pointed out that government agents had testified in this trial to certain admissions of the appellant which they had not mentioned in the earlier trial. By way of explanation, one agent had stated that the prosecutor in the earlier trial had told him not to mention these admissions. Presumably further to persuade the jury to infer that it was untrue that the admissions had been so made and suppressed, or perhaps to charge the prosecutor with misconduct, the appellant’s counsel sought also to point out that the prosecutor in the present case had been present and had assisted at the former trial, but an objection was sustained to that observation. Appellant’s counsel insisted that the record showed that fact, and requested leave to point it out and to read from the record, but the judge, evidently believing that he meant the record of the former trial, denied the request saying, “No, the record was not introduced in this trial.” The attorney then said he meant the record in this trial but the denial -stood, and the judge told him, “conclude your summation and do not argue with me.” Apparently this episode shows nothing more than judicial impatience, which we are not prepared to say was unjustified under the circumstances, but, however that may be, it was no more than an exercise of the discretion to limit summation on a point which the judge justifiably believed had already been made repetitiously.

During the summation of the district attorney no objection was made to his remarks but at the end counsel for the appellant moved for a mistrial because of the “prejudicial nature” of the summation, and pointed out specific terms which had been used to characterize the appellant. He also included the fact that the government attorney had told the jurors that he believed “on the evidence in this case that the guilt [484]*484of this man has been proved incontestably” and that if they should acquit him "they were not competent to serve as jurors.” The motion was denied. No reference was made to the summation in the charge and there was no request to do so nor exception because of any such failure on the part of the court.

In a sort of peroration the assistant district attorney had undertaken to refute some of the argument made by the appellant’s attorney by pointing out how despicable the evidence did show the appellant’s misconduct to have been. The evidence was ample to show that, while he was playing the part of a wealthy suitor so enamored of Mrs. Ashe that he wanted her to marry him, the appellant had gone to Ohio and had there gone through the marriage ceremony with another woman from whom he had been fraudulently obtaining sizeable amounts of money during the current months. He then quickly deserted her to go back to Mrs. Ashe, to go through the pretense of a marriage to her within the following month. This pretended marriage was a part of the fraud practiced upon her to obtain the money he was charged with having transported in interstate commerce.

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United States v. Walker, 190 F.2d 481, 1951 U.S. App. LEXIS 2447 (2d Cir. 1951).

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