Nance v. United States

• Decision Date: 25 January 1962
• Docket Number: No. 16330.,16330.
• Citation: Nance v. United States, 299 F.2d 122, 112 U.S.App.D.C. 38 (D.C. Cir. 1962)
• Parties: Joseph NANCE, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

112 US App. DC 38, 299 F.2d 122 (1962)

Joseph NANCE, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 16330.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued January 5, 1962.

Decided January 25, 1962.

Messrs. John A. Yacovelle, Jr. and Gerald A. Messerman, Washington, D. C., for appellant. Mr. George W. Shadoan, Washington, D. C. (appointed by the District Court), was on the brief for appellant.

Mr. John R. Schmertz, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom Messrs. David C. Acheson, U. S. Atty., and Nathan J. Paulson and Joseph A. Lowther, Asst. U. S. Attys., were on the brief, for appellee. Messrs. Charles T. Duncan, Principal Asst. U. S. Atty., and Abbott A. Leban, Arnold T. Aikens, Asst. U. S. Attys., and Mr. Carl W. Belcher, Asst. U. S. Atty. at the time the record was filed, also entered appearances for appellee.

Before WILBUR K. MILLER, Chief Judge, and FAHY and BASTIAN, Circuit Judges.

BASTIAN, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was convicted of the crime of robbery, and appeals.

The indictment in this case charged appellant with robbing the Roosevelt Hotel, in the District of Columbia. He claims as error (1) the admission of certain words used by him while conducting his own cross-examination of a witness at the preliminary hearing, and (2) the refusal of the trial court to direct a verdict of acquittal.

The Government's evidence, even without the statement objected to, was in our opinion more than sufficient to justify the verdict.

Briefly stated, the facts are as follows: In the early morning of December 7, 1960, the night auditor of the Roosevelt Hotel turned, at a noise, and saw a person (later identified as appellant), with a white handkerchief across the lower part of his face and wearing a reddish brown suede jacket, standing a foot and a half away and holding a revolver in his right hand. He demanded money, reached into the cash drawer and took cash therefrom. He then turned and went out the front door of the hotel, on the Sixteenth Street side. The night auditor noticed that the bridge of the robber's nose was sharp and that the handkerchief came just above the tip of his nose.

As the robber jumped over the counter to make his escape, a bellboy of the hotel saw him and noticed the white handkerchief tied around his face over the tip of his nose. The bellboy further noticed that the robber was wearing a reddish colored jacket and dark trousers.

A house detective saw the robber running through the lobby and removing his mask at the same time. The detective shouted to the robber to halt. At that time the mask was all the way off his face.

The night auditor, the bellboy, and the house detective, all identified appellant as the robber. The detective, who had seen the robber without the mask, picked appellant out of a line-up of eleven colored men.

Another witness called by the Government testified that she overheard appellant telling her husband that he was thinking about "doing a job," that he was thinking about holding up the Roosevelt Hotel, and asked her husband if he wanted to join in with him, to which her husband replied "No." The witness testified that a little later appellant came back to her house and said he had completed the job. She described his attire in the same general way as the three previous witnesses had done.¹

Approximately two weeks later appellant was arrested and taken to the Robbery Squad office, and was identified as the person who had robbed the hotel on December 7.

Later appellant was taken before the United States Commissioner, who explained to him his right not to answer questions, his right to counsel, and his right to ask questions at the hearing. After the night auditor had testified in chief, appellant proceeded to...