Higgins v. United States, 9301.
| Decision Date | 16 December 1946 |
| Docket Number | No. 9301.,9301. |
| Citation | 160 F.2d 223 |
| Parties | HIGGINS v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Mr. James J. Laughlin, of Washington, D. C., for appellant. Mr. M. Edward Buckley, Jr., of Washington, D. C., also entered an appearance for appellant.
Mr. Sidney S. Sachs, Assistant United States Attorney, of Washington, D. C., with whom Messrs. George E. McNeil, United States Attorney at the time the brief was filed, and Arthur J. McLaughlin, Assistant United States Attorney, both of Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellee. Mr. Edward M. Curran, United States Attorney, at the time the record was filed, of Washington, D. C., also entered an appearance for appellee.
Before GRONER, Chief Justice, and WILBURK, MILLER, and PRETTYMAN, Associate Justices.
Writ of Certiorari Denied June 2, 1947. See 67 S.Ct. 1511.
This is an appeal by Bessie Higgins, mother of appellant in 81 U.S.App.D.C. ___, 160 F.2d 222, from a jail sentence imposed as a result of a judgment for contempt of court. Three grounds are alleged for reversal: (1) that the evidence did not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant attempted to influence the judgment of a juror; (2) that the trial judge should have transferred the case to another judge to hear; and (3) that appellant's act in attempting to influence a juror was neither in the presence of the court nor so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice.
First, we have read the evidence and it shows, without contradiction, that after the jury had been sworn and admonished by the court not to talk to anyone about the case nor to allow anyone to talk to them about it, an adjournment of the trial was had. One of the women jurors left the court room, and was in the hallway some thirty feet from the door, when appellant, whom the juror recognized as the mother of the defendant in the case then on trial, came up behind her and said "My boy, my boy," and then something about having some ten or more sons in the war. At or about this point an Assistant District Attorney recognized the juror and told the parties to separate. Subsequently, but while the trial was in progress, the prosecuting attorney informed the judge of the incident, and a hearing was had at a later date. At the hearing appellant insisted that she did not know she was talking to a juror and denied any intention to influence...
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...may be punished under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 401(1), under nonsummary notice and hearing procedures of Rule 42(b), see, e.g., Higgins v. United States, 160 F.2d 223 (D.C.Cir.1946), cert. denied, 331 U.S. 840, 67 S.Ct. 1511, 91 L.Ed. 1851 (1947) (an attempt to influence a juror in the corridor of th......
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... ... State of Texas, 212 U.S. 278, 282, 29 S.Ct. 393, 394, 53 L.Ed. 512; State of Virginia v. Rives, 100 U.S. 313, 322, 323, 25 L.Ed. 667; Higgins v. United States, 81 U.S.App.D.C. 371, 160 F.2d 222; Id., 81 U.S.App.D.C. 371, 160 F.2d 223; see Fay v. New York, 332 U.S. 261, 284, 285, 67 S.Ct ... ...
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