United States v. Woods

Decision Date29 October 1973
Docket NumberNo. 73-1243.,73-1243.
Citation486 F.2d 172
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. James Harold WOODS, a/k/a Fats Woods, Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

James A. Bell, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant.

Jerome J. Murphy, Asst. U. S. Atty., St. Louis, Mo., for appellee.

Before VAN OOSTERHOUT, Senior Circuit Judge, and LAY and ROSS, Circuit Judges.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc November 23, 1973.

LAY, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Woods was indicted on four counts of distribution of a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). He was acquitted on the first count for alleged distribution of heroin on October 30, 1972, but was convicted on the other three counts which involved similar violations on subsequent dates. Woods was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and a three-year special parole term for each of the counts, the sentences to be served consecutively.

On appeal he alleges several grounds of error: (1) that the court failed to require the government to disclose the name of the confidential informant prior to trial; (2) that the court erred in denying a motion to transfer the case to another district since in light of pretrial publicity the defendant could not receive a fair trial in the Eastern District of Missouri; (3) that the court erred in failing to grant a continuance to allow counsel adequate time to prepare; (4) that the court erred in replacing a chosen juror with an alternate juror; (5) that the government induced prejudicial testimony from a key witness; (6) that the court erred in failing to grant motions for mistrial because of prosecutorial misconduct; (7) that the court erred in instructing on circumstantial evidence when there was only direct evidence.

The defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on any count. We have fully reviewed the record and find that none of the claims raised on appeal may be deemed sufficiently prejudicial so as to require a new trial. We need discuss only three of the more serious errors alleged.

The claim that defendant could not receive a fair and impartial trial in the Eastern District of Missouri is not supported in the record. It is alleged that great prejudicial publicity occurred in the St. Louis newspapers prior to trial. None of those articles were placed in evidence. More important, only five jurors even remembered reading anything in the paper about the defendant and only one could recall what that was. All jurors on voir dire expressed their feeling that they could weigh the evidence impartially and fairly. The mere fact that the defendant received publicity by itself is not sufficient to require a change of venue. See McNally v. United States, 485 F.2d 398 (8th Cir. 1973), where we recently observed:

"Just because, however, there has been widespread or even adverse publicity is not in itself grounds to grant a change of venue. As stated in Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 722, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1642, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961), an important case draws public attention through `swift, widespread and diverse methods of communication\' and hardly any prospective juror `will not have formed some impression or opinion as to the merits of the case.\' The proper test is whether the prospective juror `can lay aside his impression or opinion and render a verdict based on the evidence presented in court.\'"

A more difficult claim is that the government failed to disclose prior to trial the name and address of the informant, Michael Woodley. Woodley was called as a witness by the government and testified as to purchasing narcotics from the defendant while acting as a paid government informant. See Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957). However, we need not resolve this issue here in light of the factual circumstances presented. Even assuming there was a duty to disclose the informant's name and address prior to trial, nevertheless, on the basis of the events occurring at trial, we find no material prejudice resulted. Woodley was called as a government witness. The cross-examination by Woods' counsel was intense and thorough and reflects that counsel either knew or had reason to expect that Woodley would be called as the informant. Furthermore, counsel made no motion for a continuance in order to prepare for his cross-examination. See Sartain v. United States, 303 F.2d 859, 861 (9th Cir. 1962). Accordingly, we find no prejudice in the failure to disclose the informant's name prior to trial.

Defendant complains of prosecutorial misconduct in the examination of two defense witnesses.

Defendant produced Earl Williams, Jr. as a witness. Under Count I of the indictment the informant Woodley had earlier testified that on October 30, 1972, he had purchased heroin from the defendant in an apartment in which...

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18 cases
  • State v. Binet
    • United States
    • Connecticut Supreme Court
    • 10 Abril 1984
    ...the defendant through the attempted introduction of obviously inadmissible evidence may entitle the defendant to a new trial. United States v. Woods, 486 F.2d 172 (8th Cir. [1973]; State v. Hafner, 168 Conn. 230, 249, 362 A.2d 925, cert. denied, 423 U.S. 851, 96 S.Ct. 95, 46 L.Ed.2d 74 [197......
  • State v. Baker
    • United States
    • Connecticut Supreme Court
    • 12 Agosto 1980
    ...through the attempted introduction of obviously inadmissible evidence may entitle the defendant to a new trial. United States v. Woods, 486 F.2d 172 (8th Cir.); State v. Hafner, 168 Conn. 230, 249, 362 A.2d 925, cert. denied, 423 U.S. 851, 96 S.Ct. 95, 46 L.Ed.2d The defendant concedes the ......
  • State v. Chyung
    • United States
    • Connecticut Supreme Court
    • 18 Abril 2017
    ...22 of this opinion; however, it would have been improper for the prosecutor to ask the defendant about it. See United States v. Woods, 486 F.2d 172, 175 (8th Cir. 1973) (when prosecutor asked witness whether he was under indictment by prosecutor's office, prosecutor acted improperly by "inj......
  • Mastrian v. McManus
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit
    • 27 Junio 1977
    ...at 800, 95 S.Ct. at 2036, quoting with approval from Irvin v. Dowd, supra, 366 U.S. at 732, 81 S.Ct. at 1643. See United States v. Woods, 486 F.2d 172, 174 (8th Cir. 1973); United States v. McNally, 485 F.2d 398, 403 (8th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 978, 94 S.Ct. 1566, 39 L.Ed.2d 874......
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