United States v. Collon, 19758

Decision Date28 May 1970
Docket Number19759.,No. 19758,19758
Citation426 F.2d 939
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Joseph COLLON, Defendant-Appellant. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John GARSIDE, Defendant-Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Thomas A. Conroy (court appointed), Cincinnati, Ohio, on brief for defendant-appellant Collon.

H. Fred Hoefle (court appointed), Norwood, Ohio, on brief for defendant-appellant Garside.

Ralph B. Guy, Jr., Chief Asst. U. S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff-appellee; James H. Brickley, U. S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., on the brief.

Before CELEBREZZE, COMBS and BROOKS, Circuit Judges.

BROOKS, Circuit Judge.

The two defendants-appellants, John Garside and Joseph Collon, appeal from their conviction of bank robbery in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d)). Since both defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the guilty verdicts, it is necessary to summarize it in some detail.

Neither of the defendants took the stand and the only defense testimony introduced was that of one alibi witness called by the defendant Collon. The evidence introduced by the government, other than the clear proof of the robbery and the getaway, was primarily circumstantial.

On January 26, 1968, a branch of the Commonwealth Bank located in Westland, Michigan was robbed. The robbery was by two armed men wearing black ski jackets and ski masks that concealed their faces, except for their eyes and mouths. During the robbery, one of the robbers threatened bank employees with his .38 caliber revolver, and it is not disputed that the lives of some employees were placed in jeopardy. When the robbers entered the bank, the manager and three tellers were present and a customer entered while the robbery was in progress. The bank manager and two of the bank tellers testified that the bank robbers were white, young and of medium build. Their testimony was also in agreement that the getaway car was a 1960 or 1961 bluish-green Ford. Before leaving, the robbers had herded the occupants of the bank into a room which had a view of the parking lot in which the getaway car was parked. The getaway car stalled while the robbers were leaving and bank teller Daniel had a particularly good view of it and was able to testify that it was a Fairlane Ford.

When the getaway car left the bank, it headed in the direction of an adjacent residential subdivision, and shortly after the robbery a bluish-green 1961 Ford parked at the curb on Arrowhead Street in the adjacent subdivision was identified by Daniel as the getaway car.

Local police and F.B.I. agents were on the scene very shortly after the robbery and made an immediate investigation of the Arrowhead Street area where the car had been abandoned. At trial, it was testified that one of the residents had seen two young, white men unsuccessfully attempt to start a neighbor's car, and then leave it to run to another neighbor's house, dropping a black ski jacket on the way. Subsequently, she saw the two men drive off in a Dodge automobile owned by another neighbor, David Tague.

Another resident of Arrowhead Street found a ski mask on her front porch. David Tague testified that he heard what he believed to be a pounding at his side door and before he could open it two men entered the front door of his house and, at gun point, took from him his keys to his 1960 Dodge automobile. He could not give a detailed description of the men other than that they were white and shorter than his height of 6'1". He did testify that one of the robbers brandished a .38 caliber pistol. After the men left, Tague discovered what he thought was a pounding at his side door was in fact gun shots. There were four bullet holes in the door, and when his car was later recovered, he found in it a .38 caliber cartridge. A ballistic expert testified at the trial that the bullets fired into the door of Tague's house were .38 caliber and that his ballistic comparison indicated that the cartridge later found in the Dodge automobile and the bullets fired into the Tague door could have been fired from the same weapon.

The government's testimony further developed that a search of the 1961 Ford had uncovered an advertisement from the Commonwealth Bank, a map of the metropolitan Detroit area which had certain locations marked with X's, one of the locations being that of the Commonwealth Bank and some rubber gloves. This car was also dusted for fingerprints, and a fingerprint was developed from the rear seat armrest which was identified as that of the defendant Collon. Fingerprints were also obtained from the map and the fingerprint analysis revealed five fingerprints and three palm prints to be those of the defendant Garside. There were also other fingerprints on the map identified as those of the defendant Collon.

The Dodge automobile in which the two men left the subdivision area was found shortly after its theft and a search of the car revealed a black ski jacket, some spent .38 caliber cartridges, rubber gloves, and a torn one-half pants leg. The torn pants leg that was found was analyzed by the government experts who testified that certain body hairs in the pants leg matched with hairs taken from defendant Collon. At trial, it was also testified that the second pair of rubber gloves found in the 1960 Dodge were of the same brand and color as the pair found in the 1961 Ford, and that one of the gloves in the 1961 Ford, size 8½, appeared to be the mate of one of the rubber gloves found in the 1960 Dodge.

Government witnesses established that four days before the bank robbery the 1961 Ford getaway car was purchased from a used car lot. James Wyrick, the salesman, identified defendant Collon as the purchaser and said that he was accompanied by three other men he could not identify. The day after the purchase three men came back to the used car lot to obtain a permanent license for the Ford. The mechanic who installed the license made a courtroom identification of Collon, as did the mechanic's uncle who was...

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