Donnell v. United States

• Citation: 229 F.2d 560
• Decision Date: 27 January 1956
• Docket Number: No. 15446.,15446.
• Parties: B. M. DONNELL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

229 F.2d 560 (1956)

B. M. DONNELL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 15446.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

January 27, 1956.

James L. Drought, San Antonio, Tex., for appellant.

Harman Parrott, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Antonio, Tex., for appellee.

Before HOLMES, RIVES and CAMERON, Circuit Judges.

CAMERON, Circuit Judge.

The one narrow question involved in this appeal is whether appellant's intention in absenting himself from the jurisdiction of the court where the crime with which he was charged was committed is material and is a question of fact which should be submitted to the jury for its determination or is a question of law under the facts of this case, to be decided by the Court. Appellant, B. M. Donnell, was convicted on an indictment charging him with violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1001 by the making of false representations in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Veterans Administration.

The indictment charged that appellant committed the acts in question in July, August and September of 1948, more than three years before it was returned in October, 1951. During that period appellant had engaged in a number of activities including the construction business, import-export, recruiting for a voluntary group to fly in the Korean War, and operating a wholesale lumber business; and appellant was, on several occasions, outside the judicial district of the alleged crime, having spent more than a year of this time in Honduras.

Appellant moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that it was not returned within three years after the offense charged had been committed, and that the Statute of Limitations¹ barred the prosecution. The motion was denied, the Court below holding "that as a matter of law the statute of limitations was tolled as to the defendant herein by virtue of his being without the jurisdiction of this court, and that the intent of the defendant in so leaving and remaining without the jurisdiction is immaterial * * *".²

There is a line of cases supporting this position taken by the Government and justifying the ruling of the Court below,³ but we do not think this line of cases announces the correct rule or the rule established by the Supreme Court and followed by this Court; nor do we think that the language of the statute itself supports this position.

The prime rule of statutory construction is that its words should be given the meaning they would evoke in the common mind. "For the ultimate question is what has Congress commanded, when it has given no clue to its intentions except familiar English words and no hint by the draftsmen of the words that they meant to use them in any but an ordinary sense. * * * After all, the legislation when not expressed in technical terms is addressed to the common run of men and is therefore to be understood according to the sense of the thing, as the ordinary man has a right to rely on ordinary words addressed to him."⁴

In Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, College Edition, the first meaning given to the intransitive verb "flee" is, "1. To run away or escape from danger, pursuit, unpleasantness, etc." The statute above quoted carries the connotation that only those persons shall be denied the benefit of the Statute of Limitations who have absented themselves from the jurisdiction of the crime with the intent of escaping prosecution. The Supreme Court has made but one declaration on the subject, — Streep v. United States, 1895, 160 U.S. 128, 16 S.Ct. 244, 246, 40 L.Ed. 365. A slightly different facet of the subject of the tolling of the Statute of Limitations was there dealt with but its pronouncement was clear and unequivocal in its adherence to the dictionary definition above quoted.

In the Streep case the indictment was found more than three years after the crime charged had been committed. Shortly after its commission Streep had been indicted also in a state court where his bail was later forfeited because of his failure to appear. There was testimony at the trial tending to show that Streep went to Europe to avoid the forthcoming prosecution in the state court. The jury was charged that if they believed this evidence, then the defendant was a "fugitive from justice" within the meaning of the statute under consideration. The trial court declined to direct an acquittal or to give an instruction to the effect that, in order to be a fugitive from justice, the defendant must have been fleeing the justice of the United States and not that of the state court.

In affirming, the Supreme Court held that it was unnecessary that a person have in mind avoiding the justice of any particular court in order to be a fugitive within the meaning of the statute. Nevertheless, it was clearly recognized that the general intention of the defendant in leaving the jurisdiction is material and is an indispensable aspect in considering whether he was, while outside the jurisdiction, a fugitive from justice. The following disconnected quotations gathered from the opinion 160 U.S. at pages 133- 135, 16 S.Ct. at page 246, demonstrate the correctness of this statement:

"* * * it is quite clear that any person who takes himself out of the jurisdiction, with the intention of avoiding being brought to justice for a particular offense, can have no benefit of the limitation, at least when prosecuted for that offense in a court of the United States.

"* * * It is sufficient that there is a flight with the intention of avoiding being prosecuted, whether a prosecution has or has not been actually begun. * * *

"From these considerations, our conclusion is that in order to constitute `fleeing from justice\' within the meaning of section 1045 of the Revised Statutes now 18 U.S.C.A. 3290, it is not necessary that there should be an intent to avoid the justice of the United States, but it is sufficient that there is an intent to avoid the justice of the state having criminal jurisdiction over the same territory and the same act."

This Court has had before it two cases dealing with the subject,⁵ and, in each instance, we accepted as the law the quoted language of the Streep case. In Porter's case he made the effort to induce the trial court to charge as a matter of law that the prosecution was barred by limitations when admittedly he had spent quite a period outside the jurisdiction of the court. We affirmed the trial court's action in rejecting that contention, stating, 91 F. at page 497: "The counsel for the defendant did not proceed upon the view that the question of flight was one for the jury * * *. An entirely different case would be presented if the plaintiff in error had requested the trial judge to submit the question of flight to the jury * * *."

After quoting from the Streep case some of the language set forth above to the effect that "`it is quite clear that any person who takes himself out of the jurisdiction, with the intention of avoiding being brought to justice for a particular offense, can have no benefit of the limitation'", emphasis added we stated: "The counsel for the plaintiff in error seem to have proceeded upon the false theory that, to constitute fleeing from justice, under section 1045, id., a person must not only have left the jurisdiction of the court for the purpose of avoiding a prosecution, but that he must besides be found within the territory of another court."

The Greene case 154 F. 411 presented quite involved facts and the decision and dissent take up twenty-three pages in the Federal Reporter, and no good purpose will be served by making an extended examination of the facts. It is sufficient to say that we held that the question of intent which lay behind the flight was a proper one to submit to the jury, calling upon the Streep opinion for our authority:

"If they committed a crime in the Southern District of Georgia, and, when sought to be tried by the court having jurisdiction, they had left the district and are found in another state and district, and not in the district of their homes, under circumstances indicating a purpose to evade the authority and jurisdiction of the local courts, they might be justly considered fugitives from justice. Streep v. United States, 160 U.S. 128, 16 S.Ct. 244, 40 L.Ed. 365. * * * But it is sufficient for the purposes of our decision to show that there was evidence proper to be submitted to the jury and sufficient to sustain a verdict that the defendants became fugitives from justice * * *. This court, in the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction, cannot review and reverse the verdict of a jury upon the facts of the case." Emphasis added.

Brouse v. United States, 1933, 68 F.2d 294, is a well reasoned case wherein the First Circuit cited our Greene case and the Streep case as authority for this same construction of the statute. The question of absence from the jurisdiction was submitted to the trial court, which found the question of intent in favor of the Government and the Court of Appeals affirmed, using in part this language: "The essential characteristic of fleeing from justice is leaving one's residence, or usual place of abode or resort, or concealing one's self, with the intent to avoid punishment. * * * At page 295.

"Whether a person is during any given period a fugitive from justice in the federal courts is, as these decisions make clear, a question of fact to be determined from his acts and intent. * * *

"* * * On the face of the papers the statute of limitations appeared to have run. As the government alleged that the statute had been tolled by the fact that the defendant was fleeing from justice, the burden was on the government to establish that fact. * * *" At page 296.

Thereupon the Court of Appeals set out in some detail the facts concerning Brouse's intent in absenting himself from the jurisdiction, all of which pointed to the fact that his absence was dedicated to the purpose of avoiding prosecution. The Court concludes...