Minker v. United States, 6003.
| Decision Date | 23 September 1936 |
| Docket Number | No. 6003.,6003. |
| Parties | MINKER v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Henry B. Friedman, of Allentown, Pa., and Abram Salsburg, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for appellant.
Brien McMahon, Asst. Atty. Gen., Thomas W. Lanigan, Sp. Asst. to Atty. Gen., and Blair M. Ilderton, of Washington, D. C., for the United States.
Before BUFFINGTON, DAVIS, and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from a judgment and sentence of the District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The appellant was indicted with 61 others upon a charge of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States in violation of section 37 of the Criminal Code (18 U.S. C.A. § 88). Twelve revenue statutes relating to transporting, buying, selling, removing, concealing, possessing, distilling, and rectifying untax-paid distilled spirits are enumerated as setting out the offenses which the defendants conspired to commit. Of the 54 defendants arraigned, all but the appellant withdrew their pleas of not guilty and entered pleas of guilty or nolo contendere before the taking of any testimony. The appellant, however, adhered to his original plea of not guilty, was tried and convicted. This appeal is from the judgment and sentence entered upon the verdict of guilty.
The appellant argues that the evidence does not sustain the conviction and that the trial court erred, in the admission of evidence, in refusing to withdraw a juror following a prejudicial opening statement by the prosecuting attorney, and in refusing the appellant's motion for a bill of particulars. The record and particularly the opinion of the learned trial judge, specially presiding, show that the general atmosphere preceding the trial of the appellant was extremely dramatic and tense. There was an almost unbroken succession of defendants who desired to change their not guilty pleas to pleas of guilty or nolo contendere. Four days were devoted to the taking of such testimony as was deemed relevant by the trial judge. At the end of that period the fact that the appellant herein, one of the 54 defendants arraigned, intended to adhere to his not guilty plea, first became evident. The trial judge, due to the confusion arising from the successive withdrawal of pleas of not guilty and entry of pleas of guilty or nolo contendere by each of the other defendants arraigned, had been under the impression that all of the defendants had changed their pleas, but in the opinion filed, emphasizes the fact that neither the appellant nor his counsel was responsible for this impression. In the meantime the acceptance of the changed pleas, the taking of testimony obviously irrelevant to the conspiracy charge against the appellant, and the imposition of sentence, had all taken place in the presence of the jurors who finally sat as such upon the case against the appellant. Before sentence was imposed on any of the defendants who had pleaded guilty, the attorney for the appellant objected to the hearing of testimony and the imposition of sentence in the presence of the panel of jurors. At this stage of the proceedings the court might have postponed the taking of such testimony until after the trial of the appellant or might have temporarily excluded the jurors from the courtroom. As a result of the failure of the court to thus exercise its discretion, the atmosphere affecting the trial was prejudicial to the appellant from the very outset of the case.
Before any evidence was introduced by the government, the prosecuting attorney made an opening statement to the court in the presence of the jurors. We find that the entire speech is permeated with the personal views of the prosecuting attorney, with insinuations as to his personal knowledge of circumstances surrounding the case and as to the unique position of the government entitling it to a conviction following indictment. We set out a few typical excerpts from the prosecuting attorney's opening statement to the court:
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United States v. Harrell
...of other circuits of the principles involved. Anyone interested in pursuing the subject should examine, for example, Minker v. United States, 3 Cir. 1936, 85 F.2d 425; Nigro v. United States, 8 Cir. 1941, 117 F.2d 624, 632, 133 A.L.R. 1128; United States v. Hall, 2 Cir. 1950, 178 F.2d 853; ......
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Walker v. United States
...scarcely be said to be prejudicial error to have received their pleas of nolo contendere in the presence of the jury. Minker v. United States (C.C.A.3) 85 F.2d 425, relied upon by defendants, is distinguishable for that reason. In the Minker Case there were fifty-four defendants. All but th......
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United States v. Restaino, 15680.
...1, 222 F.2d 794 (1955), informing the jury that such pleas have been entered is not ordinarily erroneous. Compare Minker v. United States, 85 F.2d 425 (C.A.3, 1936). Such information or evidence has been held to be proper where the co-defendant has testified, Nigro v. United States, 117 F.2......
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Payton v. United States
...States, 8 Cir., 117 F.2d 624, 632, 133 A.L.R. 1128. To similar effect though under more aggravating circumstances see Minker v. United States, 3 Cir., 85 F.2d 425. 3. A written confession attributed to appellant was admitted in evidence. Several officers testified appellant signed it, and t......