Charron v. United States, 23136.

• Decision Date: 09 June 1969
• Docket Number: No. 23136.,23136.
• Citation: 412 F.2d 657
• Parties: Cyril CHARRON, Appellant, v. The UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

412 F.2d 657 (1969)

Cyril CHARRON, Appellant, v. The UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 23136.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

June 9, 1969.

Alan A. McDonald (argued), of Halverson, Applegate & McDonald, Yakima, Wash., for appellant.

Dean C. Smith (argued), U. S. Atty., Smithmoore P. Myers, U. S. Atty., Spokane, Wash., Richard L. Wiehl, Asst. U. S. Atty., Yakima, Wash., for appellee.

Before HAMLIN, ELY and CARTER, Circuit Judges.

HAMLIN, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Cyril Charron was convicted after a jury trial in the District Court for the Eastern District of Washington of a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314 (inducing a person to travel in interstate commerce in the execution of a fraudulent scheme for obtaining money by false pretenses).¹ Jurisdiction over his timely appeal is lodged in this court under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

The evidence need not be set out in detail; viewing it as we must in the light most favorable to the government, the evidence was clearly sufficient to sustain the verdict. The record shows that appellant and another person, Bartland, pursuant to a scheme devised in 1963, induced the male complaining witness to travel from Mexico City, Mexico, to his home in the state of Washington, passing through the state of Oregon en route to and from Mexico City. The victim traveled to Washington to obtain the sum of $50,000, which on his return to Mexico he was induced to hand over to the appellant and Bartland because of their false statements and pretenses. The scheme was a variation on what has long been known as the "pigeon drop." Approximately five years after the conclusion of the scheme the appellant was arrested by agents of the United States Government in Detroit, Michigan, after a plane on which the appellant was traveling from Mexico City to Toronto, Canada, made a stop in that city. From Detroit he was brought to Washington, where the trial resulting in the conviction was held.

The appellant in his brief sets out five issues for review, as follows:

"(1) Did the Government fail to charge or prove the commission of a crime under 18 U.S.C. 2314, where admittedly all of the overt acts alleged to have been committed by appellant occurred beyond the territorial boundaries of the United States?

"(2) Did the Government\'s mode of acquiring custody and personal jurisdiction of appellant offend constitutional guarantees?

"(3) Was the appellant deprived of a fair trial by the conduct, participation and demeanor of the trial judge?

"(4) Did the trial court err in the admission of certain evidence violating the hearsay rule?

"(5) Did the trial court err in the refusal to give certain instructions requested by the appellant?"

Having carefully examined all of the appellant's contentions, we find no merit in them, and we consequently affirm the conviction.

It is undisputed that the appellant was at no time physically in the United States while perpetrating the fraudulent scheme, and that while the other paragraphs of section 2314 refer to "interstate or foreign commerce," the paragraph with which the appellant was charged and convicted refers only to interstate commerce. However, the acts done in this case fit the language of the statute precisely: The appellant, having devised a scheme to obtain money by false pretenses, induced the victim to travel in interstate commerce in the execution of the scheme to defraud the victim out of money in excess of $5,000. This is not a case where the United States has charged an alien with a crime which was wholly completed outside the jurisdiction of the United States. See Yenkichi Ito v. United States, 64 F.2d 73 (9th Cir.1933); United States v. Baker, 136 F.Supp. 546 (N.Y.1955). In Baker, the defendant, a citizen of Canada, was charged with wilfully concealing a material fact in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the United States; the defendant was in Canada when he concealed the fact. In Baker the crime was complete the moment the false statements were made outside the United States. Here, to complete the crime the victim was required to travel in interstate commerce to obtain the $50,000. Under section 2314 it is the interstate travel of the victim which is the foundation for jurisdiction. It is a well-established principle that "Acts done outside a jurisdiction, but intended to produce and producing detrimental effects within it, justify a state in punishing the cause of the harm as if he had been present at the effect * * *." Strassheim v. Daily, 221 U.S. 280, 285, 31 S.Ct. 558, 560, 55 L.Ed. 735 (1911). See also United States v. Braverman, 376 F.2d 249 (2nd Cir. 1967); United States v. Steinberg, 62 F.2d 77 (2nd Cir.1932). The appellant knew that his victim would have to travel in interstate commerce if his scheme were to succeed. It follows that the government correctly proved a violation of the paragraph of section 2314 of which the appellant was charged and convicted.

The objection to the government's mode of acquiring jurisdiction over the appellant is equally without merit. The record shows that in 1968 appellant traveled by air from Toronto, Canada, to Mexico City, Mexico, the plane making one stop en route at Detroit, Michigan. On the arrival of the plane at Mexico City, appellant alleges that at the instigation of the United States Government the Mexican officials refused to allow appellant to remain there. Instead, they placed him on a "turn around" flight to Toronto, which flight stopped at Detroit. When the plane arrived at Detroit, appellant alleges that under the guise of a "specially arranged" spot health inspection he was induced to alight from the plane and was then arrested by United States authorities and subsequently brought to the state of Washington for trial. Any contention that this procedure offended constitutional guarantees is foreclosed by the Supreme Court decision in Frisbie v. Collins, 342 U.S. 519, 72 S.Ct. 509, 96 L.Ed. 541 (1952). The Court there stated, "This Court has never departed from the rule announced in Ker v. Illinois, 119 U.S. 436, 444, 7 S.Ct. 225, 30 L.Ed. 421, that the power of a court to try a person for crime is not impaired by the fact that he had been brought within the court's jurisdiction by reason of a `forcible abduction'." 342 U.S. at 522, 72 S.Ct. at 571. Indeed, the facts in the instant case show that far less force was used to apprehend the appellant than was used in Collins. This court has consistently adhered to the principles of Ker and Collins. Hunt v. Eyman, 9 Cir., 405 F.2d 384, Dec. 27, 1968; Tynan v. Eyman, 371 F.2d 764 (9th Cir.1967). The appellant was properly brought before the district court for trial.

The charge that the conduct of the trial judge prejudiced the jury against the appellant and denied him a fair trial requires little comment. The victim of the scheme was 77 years old at the time of the trial, and at various times the trial judge interposed questions to make sure that the witness understood a question, and to insure that the judge understood his answers. Suffice it to say that we...