Robinson v. United States

• Decision Date: 02 January 1964
• Docket Number: No. 20419.,20419.
• Citation: 325 F.2d 880
• Parties: Robert Layton ROBINSON, Ann Griffin, Lucille Griffin and Dan Stewart McCollister, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

325 F.2d 880 (1964)

Robert Layton ROBINSON, Ann Griffin, Lucille Griffin and Dan Stewart McCollister, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 20419.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

January 2, 1964.

Leon A. Wilson, II, Waycross, Ga., for appellants.

Albert Sidney Johnson, Asst. U. S. Atty., Donald H. Fraser, U. S. Atty., Savannah, Ga., for appellee.

Before TUTTLE, Chief Judge, JONES, Circuit Judge, and JOHNSON, District Judge.

TUTTLE, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from the conviction of the appellants under an indictment charging them along with several other defendants, who have not appealed, with conspiracy to violate the Internal Revenue Laws of the United States by accepting wagers and conducting a lottery for profit without paying the occupational tax required by 26 U.S.C.A. § 4411.

The appeals raise three basic contentions. The first is that the trial court erred in not requiring the Government, in response to a motion filed by the appellants, to furnish all of the names of its witnesses, investigating officers and agents, and confidential informers, so as to permit the appellants to examine them in order to determine whether the prosecution was procured or made possible by the use of information or leads obtained by unlawful wire tapping and eavesdropping. The second ground is that certain evidence seized upon the execution of a search warrant was obtained illegally and should have been suppressed upon appellants' motion. The third ground is that as to each of the appellants the evidence was insufficient to warrant submitting the case to the jury. This point is urged even though this Court should decide that all of the evidence received by the trial court was properly admitted.

Since we must reach the question of sufficiency of the evidence and since a discussion of the legal questions will be facilitated by an understanding of the facts in the case, we think it appropriate to make a fairly full statement of the facts. This statement is taken from the brief of the appellants, which the Court finds to be extremely accurate and objective. It must be borne in mind that some of the persons mentioned in the statement were parties to the trial below but are not now before the Court on appeal.

"On February 3, 1962, treasury agents conducted simultaneous raids at the Waycross residence of Ann Griffin, where she, her mother, Lucille Griffin, and Robinson were arrested; at the Waycross residence of Trotter, where he, his wife and Moye were arrested; and at the residences or businesses of the other defendants, except McCollister, in nearby towns, McCollister was arrested in Alabama.

"Each of the raids was conducted under the authority of federal search warrants.

"Various and sundry paraphernalia and records peculiar to a bolita operation were seized in each of the raids.

"Numerous long distance telephone calls were made between the telephone of Ann Griffin and those of Pace, Mary Bell Hall, Sarah Plummer, Samuel E. Neal and R. L. Fields, the latter two of whom were connected with a bolita operation in Brunswick. Numerous such calls were also made between the telephone of Trotter and those of Jordan, Eugene Edwards, Bessie Edwards, Charles James Edwards, Pace, Mary Bell Hall and Sarah Plummer. One such call was made between the telephone of Pace and that of Sarah Plummer.

"Two long distance telephone calls were made from the telephone of Ann Griffin to Robinson at this residence in Fernandina Beach, Florida, two were made from the telephone of Trotter to Robinson, and seven were made from the telephones of Neal and Fields.

"Trotter and Moye had a telephone installed in a cabin in a Waycross motel and in a back room of a Blackshear liquor store from which they conducted their bolita operation in addition to Trotter\'s residence.

"Robinson registered at various Waycross motels, usually on weekends, in the name of R. L. Robinson and R. L. Layton.

"Surveillance by treasury agents and local officers showed several visits by Robinson to the residence of Ann Griffin and several visits by her to his motel rooms. McCollister was seen visiting Robinson\'s motel rooms on eight occasions in Waycross and once in Blackshear. McCollister and Robinson were seen together in an automobile on two occasions, once talking with several unidentified negroes and once talking with one unidentified negro. On both occasions, McCollister and Robinson wrote on pads and on one occasion each made a telephone call from a public booth. Robinson was seen to make two other telephone calls from public booths while alone and was seen on one occasion with an unidentified white man and on another occasion with an unidentified white couple. On three occasions McCollister was seen with a paper bag. On one occasion Trotter was seen to drive to Robinson\'s motel room during the latter\'s absence, procure some clothing and carry it to Robinson\'s parked automobile. On another occasion Trotter and Robinson were together in the Blackshear whiskey store.

"The raid on Trotter\'s residence produced a complete bolita operation. Trotter, his wife, and Moye admitted it was their operation, and the records seized were so captioned.

"The raid on Ann Griffin\'s residence produced several papers identified as bolita records, all in the handwriting of Ann Griffin. Lucille Griffin attempted to burn a paper identified as a master tally sheet. Robinson was in the house at the time of the raid but both he and Ann Griffin stated that his presence was a personal visit.

"Robinson and his automobile were searched. Found upon his person and seized were the telephone number and address of Frank Pace, the name and telephone number of an unidentified person, and currency. Found in his automobile and seized were a bundle of blank paper similar to that found in Ann Griffin\'s residence and a bag of coins. Robinson explained that the money was his `poker money\' and the paper was given to him by Ann Griffin for use in his neon sign business.

"In the records seized in the Trotter and Griffin residences were notations corresponding in date and amount, which were explained by the agents as indicating a personal loan from Robinson to Trotter for $350 with $100 paid thereon.

"In the records seized in the Trotter residence was Ann Griffin\'s telephone number opposite the word `Lay.\'

"The local chief of police, Ray Pope, admitted that he tapped Robinson\'s telephone in several of his motel rooms in Waycross and also utilized an electronic listening device attached to the air conditioner of his motel rooms.

"A search warrant was executed on McCollister on April 29, 1961, but nothing was found connecting him with the bolita operation.

"No occupation tax was paid by any of the defendants.

"All of the evidence related to the period during which the

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