United States v. Baysek
Decision Date | 14 May 1954 |
Docket Number | No. 11180.,11180. |
Citation | 212 F.2d 446 |
Parties | UNITED STATES v. BAYSEK. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Joseph A. Rossi, Pittsburgh, Pa. (James F. Callahan, Louis C. Glasso, Pittsburgh, Pa., on the brief), for appellant.
James W. Knapp, Atty., Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (John W. McIlvaine, U. S. Atty., Pittsburg, Pa., on the brief), for appellee.
Before MARIS, KALODNER and STALEY, Circuit Judges.
Joseph S. Baysek, Jr. and Stanley J. Barczak were charged in the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in the first count of an indictment with aiding and abetting Frederick H. Altmeyer, a deputy collector of internal revenue, to extort $4,101.18 from one Harry Feldman as additional income taxes for the years 1948 and 1949. In count two of the indictment Altmeyer, Baysek and Barczak were charged with conspiracy to commit the offense charged in the first count. Altmeyer pleaded guilty and was called as a witness for the Government. Barczak pleaded not guilty but changed his plea to nolo contendere after the commencement of the trial and then testified as a Government witness. Baysek also pleaded not guilty but he maintained his innocence throughout the trial and introduced evidence as to his good character. He was nonetheless convicted by the jury on both counts and was sentenced by the district court to imprisonment for three years on the first count and five years on the second, to run concurrently. He thereupon took the appeal now before us, contending that the trial judge erred in limiting the number of his character witnesses, in instructing the jury on character testimony and in refusing to withdraw a juror because of alleged prejudicial remarks in the prosecutor's address to the jury. We will consider these contentions in their order.
Baysek called seven witnesses who testified that his reputation for truthfulness and honesty was good. When he sought to call additional witnesses as to his character the trial judge declined to permit him to do so. The trial judge also refused to permit him to note on the record the names and occupations of these additional witnesses. Baysek contends that this was error. We do not agree. The notation upon the record of the names and occupations of unproduced witnesses would obviously have been improper without the consent of the Government. The limitation of witnesses whose testimony will be cumulative of that already received is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial judge.1 Here the Government did not attack Baysek's prior good reputation. Particularly in view of that fact the trial judge's determination that cumulative evidence of good character would not serve any proper purpose in the trial was clearly not an abuse of discretion.2
The trial judge in his instructions to the jury stated:
Baysek concedes that all but the last sentence of this instruction was proper. Indeed it was in almost exactly the language which he himself had requested. But he urges that the final sentence nullified what went before and indicated to the jury that they could disregard the character evidence if they were satisfied of his guilt from the other evidence. We...
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United States v. Somers
...approach. District judges have wide discretion in limiting the number of defense witnesses called to the stand. In United States v. Baysek, 212 F.2d 446 (3d Cir. 1954), this Court declared The limitation of witnesses whose testimony will be cumulative of that already received is a matter wi......
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...United States, 9 Cir., 1921, 276 F. 111. See also Burgman v. United States, 1951, 88 U.S.App.D.C. 184, 188 F.2d 637; United States v. Baysek, 3 Cir., 1954, 212 F. 2d 446; Feguer v. United States, 8 Cir., 1962, 302 F.2d 214. We are not convinced that the testimony of ten prisoners would have......
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Levin v. United States
...775 (5th Cir. 1919), cert. denied, 252 U.S. 583, 40 S.Ct. 393, 64 L.Ed. 728 (1920). And see as to character evidence United States v. Baysek, 212 F.2d 446, 447 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 348 U.S. 836, 75 S.Ct. 49, 99 L.Ed. 659 (1954); Shaw v. United States, 41 F.2d 26, 27-28 (5th Cir. 1930); ......