Neely v. United States

• Decision Date: 06 November 1924
• Docket Number: No. 2308.,2308.
• Citation: 2 F.2d 849
• Parties: NEELY et al. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

2 F.2d 849 (1924)

NEELY et al. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 2308.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

November 6, 1924.

J. Raymond Gordon, of Charleston, W. Va., for plaintiffs in error.

Elliott Northcott, U. S. Atty., of Huntington, W. Va. (B. J. Pettigrew, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Charleston, W. Va., on the brief), for the United States.

Before WOODS and ROSE, Circuit Judges, and COCHRAN, District Judge.

ROSE, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiffs in error were defendants below, and will be so styled here. They were convicted on five counts of an indictment which charged them with violating sections 3258, 3281, and 3279 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. §§ 5994, 6019, 6021), by unlawfully, first, having in their possession and under their control a still and distilling apparatus set up without having the same registered as required by law; second, carrying on the business of distiller of spirituous liquors without having given bond as required by law; third, engaging in and carrying on the business of a distiller of spirituous liquors with intent to defraud the United States of the tax on the spirits distilled by them; fourth, working in a distillery for the production of spirituous liquors upon which distillery no sign bearing the words "registered distillery" was placed and kept as required by law; and fifth, knowingly carrying and delivering raw material, to wit, a quantity of mash, to a distillery for the production of spirituous liquors upon which no sign bearing the words "registered distillery" was placed and kept. They were convicted, and each was sentenced to be confined in the penitentiary for a period of six years and to pay a fine of $1,300.

They assigned as error (a) the exclusion of certain testimony; (b) the remarks of the court in sustaining the government's objection to a question asked on their behalf; (c) the court's permitting, in cross-examination by the government of one of the defendants, the asking him to take off his coat and show the jury his right arm and elbow; and (d) to the overruling of their motion for a new trial. So far as concerns the last assignment, it certainly should be now unnecessary to repeat that in the federal courts the action of the trial judge in denying a motion for a new trial is not subject to review on error, except under peculiar circumstances which it is not suggested exist here.

Certain state and government officers in September, 1922, while going through a wooded portion of Mercer county, W. Va., found a still of from 150 to 200 gallons capacity and some 1,100 or 1,200 gallons of mash. From the condition of the latter, they concluded that it would not be ready to run off until the succeeding Monday morning. Before daylight on that day, six of them went to the vicinity and hid in the woods not far from the still until at some time after 8 o'clock three men had come to the still and had begun work at it. The officers then divided themselves, so as partially to surround the still. A member of the raiding party, while lying in the bushes, was discovered by one of the workers, who at once opened fire with a shotgun upon him and badly wounded him. The fire was returned, and many more shots were exchanged between the officials and the distilling party. As a result one of the latter received a mortal wound and fell unconscious, while the other two got away. The state grand jury made an inquiry into the affair, but, so far as the record discloses, did not return any indictment against any one for participation in it. The defendants were subsequently arrested by the federal authorities, indicted, and put upon their trial. Their defense was mistaken identity, in support of which each of them offered evidence to sustain an alibi. They swore that neither of them was at the still, and a number of persons testified that, at the time the shooting occurred, the defendants were elsewhere. Testimony positively identifying them as the men who fled from the still was given by several members of the raiding party.

The learned counsel for the defendants in cross-examining some of the identifying witnesses, sought to show that, although they appeared before the state grand jury, they had not in their testimony before it identified either of the defendants as being present at the still. One of the government witnesses, having explained that, when he was before the grand jury, he did not know the name of the defendant Claut Neely, and therefore did not make any charge against him, was asked whether he mentioned to the state grand jury that he saw Claut Neely at the still. The government's objection to this question was sustained by the court, and the defendant excepted. As the witness had already said that he had not, when before the grand jury, charged the defendant Claut Neely, and had explained why he had not done so, it is obvious that no harm could have been done by the refusal to permit the witness to be again asked to repeat what he had already said.

Another of the raiding party had been rather fully cross-examined as to what occurred when he was before the state grand jury, and he was then asked, "And no indictment was found at that time?" To this question an objection taken by the government was sustained, and error is assigned. The ruling was clearly right. What action the state grand jury took or did not take was not material to the issues on trial before the petit jury in the federal court.

In properly sustaining the objection of the government, the learned judge severely censured the attorneys for the defendants for seeking to introduce testimony which he said they knew was not admissible. To these remarks of the court exception was taken at the time, and they are here assigned as ground for reversal. It would have been better, from every standpoint, had the language used been more restrained; but we cannot see that what was said could have prejudiced either of the defendants.

The attorney for the defendants, in cross-examining one of the officers who testified in the case, sought to show that no assistance was given by the officers to that member of the distilling party who had been mortally wounded during the shooting. The District Court stated that the evidence sought to be elicited would not be of any value, but permitted the question to be asked, and the officer testified that no assistance was given, because they were not in a position to give any, explaining that, from the nature of the wound, it was obvious that anything which could be done would not help the injured man. Later the witness said that his party was in momentary expectation of being fired upon. The attorney for the defendants asked the witness whether they did not have a sufficient force to remove the party who had been fatally wounded to some other house, to which the government's counsel objected, and this objection was sustained, and the defendants excepted.

It is difficult to see how the evidence sought to be elicited was in any way pertinent to the issue of guilt or innocence of the defendants. However, this witness and others testified fully before the jury as to the number in the party of the officers and all of the facts and circumstances in the case, and, if the question had any pertinency at all, the jury were in possession of all of them, and were fully able to draw their own conclusion. In any view of the case, we cannot see that the defendants suffered any prejudice by the exclusion of the answer to this question.

One of the witnesses for the prosecution had testified that he had shot the...