United States v. Tremont, No. 7759.
| Decision Date | 05 March 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 7759. |
| Citation | 438 F.2d 1202 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Jerome TREMONT, Defendant, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Evan Y. Semerjian, Boston, Mass., with whom Hale & Dorr, Boston, Mass., was on the brief, for appellant.
Frederic R. Kellogg, Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom Herbert F. Travers, Jr., U. S. Atty., was on the brief, for appellee.
Before ALDRICH, Chief Judge, McENTEE and COFFIN, Circuit Judges.
Defendant, having been convicted as a result of a jury verdict, and his conviction having been affirmed on appeal, 429 F.2d 1166, cert. denied 400 U.S. 831, 91 S.Ct. 63, 27 L.Ed.2d 63, moved for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence. By affidavits defendant showed that after the trial he met with one of the government's witnesses, an individual who had pleaded guilty but had not been sentenced at the time he testified. At this supposedly chance encounter, which was actually arranged by the defendant, he charged the witness with having given false testimony against him. According to the affidavits, the witness replied saying, or at least strongly suggesting, that he had falsely inculpated the defendant because he thought it would help him in the matter of his own sentence. The district court denied the motion for new trial without a hearing, and the defendant appeals.
We deal first with the circumstance that although defendant's motion for stay of execution or bail pending appeal was denied, he has failed to surrender to the United States Marshal to begin serving his sentence. Following a motion by the government to dismiss the appeal on that ground, the court informed counsel that it might grant the motion if defendant failed to surrender within a reasonable time. Defendant has been absent for an additional six weeks since counsel was given that information. Counsel states that he is unaware of where the defendant is, and knows of no way of informing him of the court's instructions. We, of course, accept this statement. However, the inference seems almost inescapable that defendant is aware of the fact that his release on his personal recognizance has been terminated, and that he should surrender. If, alternatively, he is deceased, he has no further interest in the outcome of his case. The third possibility, that he is alive, but unable to return or communicate, seems, after this passage of time, too remote a possibility to receive substantial weight.
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...invoke to estop fugitives from challenging criminal convictions in absentia. Puzzanghera, 820 F.2d at 27; United States v. Tremont, 438 F.2d 1202, 1203 (1st Cir.1971) (per curiam). The driving force behind the doctrine is the idea that a criminal defendant, following conviction and initiati......
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...189, 69 S.Ct. 1453, 93 L.Ed. 1897 (removed from docket), 338 U.S. 883, 70 S.Ct. 181, 94 L.Ed. 542 (cert. dismissed); United States v. Tremont, 1 Cir. 1971, 438 F.2d 1202. Finally, we do not criticize the reinstatement of an appeal upon the return of the appellant to custody. We have ourselv......
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...of escapees. Significantly, it is the latter consideration which is given greatest weight by the courts. Thus in United States v. Tremont, 438 F.2d 1202 (1st Cir. 1971), this court refused to hear an appeal from the denial of a motion for a new trial where the defendant had been an escapee ......
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