United States v. Miles, 911
| Decision Date | 07 June 1973 |
| Docket Number | Docket 73-1433.,No. 911,911 |
| Citation | 480 F.2d 1215 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Harold MILES, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Irving Anolik, New York City (Bobick, Deutsch & Schlesser, New York City, on the brief), for appellant.
Jeffrey Harris, Asst. U. S. Atty. (Whitney North Seymour, Jr., U. S. Atty., John W. Nields, Asst. U. S. Atty., on the brief), for appellee.
Before FRIENDLY and HAYS, Circuit Judges, and JAMESON, District Judge.*
This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for distribution, and possession with intent to distribute, heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 812, 841(a) (1) and 841(b) (1) (A). Appellant contends that (1) the cross-examination of the main government witness was improperly restricted, and (2) the district court's refusal to prohibit the government from calling one Joseph Sapia in rebuttal was improper. We reject both contentions and affirm the judgment of the district court.1
In April, 1972 Detective William Dunn called defendant Miles and introduced himself as a friend of Joseph Sapia. Dunn told Miles that Sapia had told him Dunn to contact Miles if he needed drugs. Dunn testified that, as a result of this conversation, Miles and he met later in the same day and Miles gave Dunn eleven half bundles of heroin for which Dunn paid $170. According to Dunn's testimony, a second drug transaction between Dunn and the defendant took place the following day.
In May, 1972, approximately a month after the transactions had taken place, detectives went to the defendant's apartment to place him under arrest. Although the defendant was not at home the detectives were admitted to the apartment and waited there. In the afternoon, the defendant arrived, accompanied by Joseph Sapia, and was arrested. Sapia then asked the defendant "Do they have you right?" to which the defendant responded that they did. Sapia repeated this question and after receiving the same reply, asked the defendant "What did you do?" To this the defendant replied, "I sold to the man."
Later at the office of the Assistant United States Attorney, the defendant stated that he had been dealing in narcotics with Sapia for a year and a half. He also indicated that he had carried on Sapia's drug business while Sapia was away.
At trial the defendant denied that he had sold heroin to Detective Dunn. The defendant also denied making any statement to Sapia at the time of his arrest or later to the Assistant United States Attorney.
Appellant first contends that his cross-examination of Dunn was improperly restricted. Appellant claims that he should have been permitted to question Detective Dunn not only about certain charges that were then pending against Dunn but also about the underlying acts themselves. As brought out in the trial, Detective Dunn had been suspended from the New York City Police Department and had several charges pending against him, including associating with persons of ill repute, failure to make an arrest in a narcotics case, accepting bribes on at least three separate occasions, and receiving $3,500 to acquire a quantity of quinine. Although witnesses cannot generally be impeached in this circuit by evidence of prior misconduct — as opposed to evidence of prior convictions —, see, e. g., United States v....
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