U.S. v. Leigh, 74-3209
| Citation | 513 F.2d 784 |
| Decision Date | 02 June 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 74-3209,74-3209 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Henry T. LEIGH, M.D., Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Leland D. Sutton, Odessa, Tex., G. Bert Smith, Jr., Andrews, Tex., for defendant-appellant.
John E. Clark, U. S. Atty., Wayne F. Speck, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Antonio, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Before TUTTLE, GODBOLD and MORGAN, Circuit Judges.
Appellant, a physician, was convicted by a jury of eight counts of violating 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), for unlawfully dispensing a controlled substance by prescription. Because of a critical error in the trial judge's charge to the jury, we reverse the conviction.
As part of his defense, appellant called numerous character witnesses who testified that his reputation for truth and for being a law abiding citizen in the community was good; the government called rebuttal witnesses who testified that his reputation for these qualities was bad. In pertinent part, the trial judge charged the jury:
Such evidence of good reputation in addition to its relevance on the issue of his credibility as a witness, may indicate to the jury that it is improbable that a person having such a reputation would commit the offense charged. Therefore, the jury may consider the reputation along with that contradicting it, if you find it does, along with all the other evidence in the case in determining the guilt or innocence of this defendant on the offenses charged.
The circumstances may be such that evidence of good reputation as to truth, veracity, sobriety and being a peaceable and law abiding citizen, may alone create a reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt, although without it the other evidence would be convincing. However, evidence of good reputation should not constitute an excuse to acquit the defendant if you, the jury, after weighing all of the evidence in the case, is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the offenses charged in the indictment. (Emphasis supplied.)
Had the district judge not included the last sentence, his charge would have more than satisfied the standard established by this Circuit. Indeed, in charging that reputation evidence alone may create a reasonable doubt as to a defendant's guilt, he more than met the minimum content requirement for such a charge in this Circuit; that reputation evidence, considered together with all other evidence, may create such a doubt. United States v. Fontenot, 483 F.2d 315 323 (5th Cir. 1973); United States v. Ramzy, 446 F.2d 1184 (5th Cir. 1971) cert. den. 404 U.S. 992, 92 S.Ct. 537, 30 L.Ed.2d 544; United States v. Cashio, 420 F.2d 1132 (5th Cir. 1969) cert. den. 397 U.S. 1007, 90 S.Ct. 1234, 25 L.Ed.2d 420.
Unfortunately, the final...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
U.S. v. Winter, s. 79-1437
...33 (1979). The opinion actually cited Fontenot in the course of discussing another recent Fifth Circuit precedent, United States v. Leigh, 513 F.2d 784 (5th Cir. 1975), which noted that an instruction that good reputation alone may create a reasonable doubt on guilt more than met the "minim......
-
U.S. v. Lange
...all of the evidence in the case, is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty . . ..' United States v. Leigh, 513 F.2d 784, 785 (5th Cir. 1975) (emphasis in original). This court reasoned in Leigh that such an instruction denigrates the value of reputation evidence in......
-
U.S. v. Borders
...evidence in the same manner as it considers all other evidence. Relying in part on Edgington, the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Leigh, 513 F.2d 784 (5th Cir.1975), overturned a conviction because an otherwise satisfactory instruction on reputation evidence concluded with the statement e......
-
U.S. v. Gorel
...district court's jury charge on the weight to be given character evidence was not erroneous. Unlike the charge in United States v. Leigh, 513 F.2d 784, 785 (5th Cir. 1975), it did not contain objectionable language, and it correctly instructed the jury to consider reputation evidence in the......