Daly v. United States
| Decision Date | 17 December 1964 |
| Docket Number | No. 18686.,18686. |
| Parties | Vincent J. DALY, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Mr. John J. Dwyer and Mrs. Jean F. Dwyer, Washington, D. C., for appellant.
Mr. Edward J. Pesce, Atty., Dept. of Justice, with whom Messrs. David C. Acheson, U. S. Atty., and Frank Q. Nebeker and Paul A. Renne, Asst. U. S. Attys., were on the brief, for appellee.
Messrs. Daniel J. McTague and John A. Terry, Asst. U. S. Attys., also entered appearances for appellee.
Before EDGERTON, Senior Circuit Judge, and BASTIAN and McGOWAN, Circuit Judges.
Petition for Rehearing en Banc Denied March 1, 1965.
This is an appeal from a conviction, after a jury trial, of fifteen counts of an indictment which originally numbered twenty-seven. The principal contention pressed on this appeal is founded upon the joinder for trial of this large number of counts. For the reasons appearing hereinafter, we do not think reversal is required.
As returned by the grand jury, the indictment contained five felony counts for false pretenses; and twenty-two misdemeanor counts, of which thirteen were for unlawful practice of the healing arts, five for unlawful possession of dangerous drugs, and four for unlawful delivery of dangerous drugs.1 Prior to trial appellant moved to sever the counts for trial or to require an election between them. His claim essentially was that the submission of proof by the prosecution in the same trial of such a large number of different offenses, involving at least seven complaining witnesses, would tend to mislead the jury and cause it to convict because of the sheer number of the offenses charged rather than by reference to the merits of each. However, appellant recognizes, as he must, that the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure expressly contemplate the joinder of separate offenses under certain circumstances. Rule 8(a), set forth fully in the margin,2 says that this may be done when the offenses "are of the same or similar character," or when they are comprised of acts "connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan."
The offense against the community for which appellant has essentially been held to account was that of falsely holding himself out to the public as a licensed physician, and of performing acts in the course of that deception which a layman is forbidden to do. Since his operations continued over a significant period of time, it is hardly surprising that a large number of separate statutory violations were asserted to have occurred, or that these fall into a similar and recurring...
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