Burcham v. United States, 9506.
| Decision Date | 04 August 1947 |
| Docket Number | No. 9506.,9506. |
| Citation | 163 F.2d 761,82 US App. DC 283 |
| Parties | BURCHAM v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Mr. Robert I. Miller, of Washington, D. C., for appellant. Mr. Kenneth D. Wood, of Washington, D. C., also entered an appearance for appellant.
Mr. John P. Burke, Assistant United States Attorney, of Washington, D. C., with whom Mr. George Morris Fay, United States Attorney, of Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellee. Messrs. Sidney S. Sachs, Assistant United States Attorney, and John D. Lane, Assistant United States Attorney, both of Washington, D. C., also entered appearances for appellee.
Before GRONER, Chief Justice, and EDGERTON and WILBUR K. MILLER, Associate Justices.
James A. Burcham, the appellant, was convicted in the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia of assault with a dangerous weapon. He appeals on three grounds: (a) that the court erroneously admitted evidence of an offense other than that for which the appellant was being tried; (b) that the court should have instructed on simple assault, an offense included in that of which he was accused; and (c) that the court erred in telling the jury that a recommendation of mercy is not binding on the court.
Burcham boarded a westbound Pennsylvania Avenue street car about 1:20 a.m. on June 7, 1946. There was testimony that he was under the influence of alcohol. He undertook to establish and enforce racial segregation on the car by requiring colored passengers to move to the rear. The complaining witness entered the street car at 3d Street and was told by Burcham to move back. The witness observed an altercation then going on between the appellant and an unidentified passenger, in the course of which both combatants suffered knife wounds. As the car crossed 7th Street the trouble was still in progress, and somewhere between there and 10th Street the complaining witness was cut by Burcham. At 10th Street the appellant alighted and soon after was taken into custody at 11th Street by police officers who found a bloodstained knife in his possession.
The evidence that Burcham cut an unidentified man soon after the car left 3d Street is said by the appellant to concern an offense different from the one for which he was being tried, since the complaining witness was cut by him as the car neared 10th Street. Burcham's conduct on the street car that early morning cannot be broken down by him for evidentiary purposes to...
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