United States v. Weems, 11863

• Decision Date: 16 July 1968
• Docket Number: 11872.,No. 11863,11863
• Citation: 398 F.2d 274
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. John Louis WEEMS, Appellant. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Eugene WASHINGTON, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

398 F.2d 274 (1968)

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. John Louis WEEMS, Appellant.

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Eugene WASHINGTON, Appellant.

Nos. 11863, 11872.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued June 18, 1968.

Decided July 16, 1968.

James G. Beach, Jr., Baltimore, Md., Court-appointed counsel, for appellant, Weems.

Laurence M. Katz, Baltimore, Md., Court-appointed counsel, for appellant, Washington.

Nevett Steele, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty. (Stephen H. Sachs, U. S. Atty., and Paul M. Rosenberg, Asst. U. S. Atty., on brief), for appellee.

Before SOBELOFF, BOREMAN and BUTZNER, Circuit Judges.

SOBELOFF, Circuit Judge:

Appealing from their conviction for kidnaping, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1201(a),¹ defendants Washington and Weems raise two principal contentions for our consideration. They maintain that their cause was unduly prejudiced by references, both in the indictment and at trial, to an assault, rape and other criminal acts committed upon the victim of the kidnap which are claimed by the defendants to be irrelevant to the offense charged. Appellants further contend that the prosecutor, in his summation to the jury, improperly called attention to their failure to testify. We find no merit in either contention.²

The indictment charged that the accused knowingly kidnaped their victim for "immoral purposes" and that they "did rape, carnally know, beat, injure, bruise, and harm her, and did not liberate her unharmed." The defendants maintain that the purpose of the kidnap is immaterial and, in light of United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 88 S.Ct. 1209, 20 L.Ed.2d 138 (1968), that evidence of any harm sustained during the period of forced detention is irrelevant on the issue of guilt. From this premise they reason that the allegedly tainted language in the indictment, which came to the jury's attention, and the evidence introduced in support thereof, worked prejudicially and constituted reversible error.

The answer is found in the statute itself which condemns the knowing transportation in interstate commerce of a person held against her will for "ransom or reward or otherwise." This court has recognized that "an indictment * * * for a statutory offense * * * may ordinarily be laid in the language of the statute, unless the statute omits an essential element of the offense or includes it only by implication." United States v. Guthrie, 387 F.2d 569, 571 (4 Cir. 1967); 4 Barron, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1914 and 1964 Supp. § 1914 (Wright ed.). Furthermore, while we are aware of numerous cases permitting the introduction of evidence relating to the kidnaper's motive, in order to show that the victim was held "for ransom or reward or otherwise," for example, Reed v. United States, 364 F.2d 630, 633 (9 Cir. 1966); DeHerrera v. United States, 339 F.2d 587 (10 Cir. 1964); United States v. Varner, 283 F.2d 900 (7 Cir. 1961); Brooks v. United States, 199 F.2d 336 (4 Cir. 1956), we find no authority to support defendants' proposition that the admission of such evidence might vitiate an otherwise valid conviction.

Moreover, evidence of the criminal acts occurring in the instant kidnap has independent significance of a highly relevant nature and was therefore properly admitted. Foremost, these acts are admissible to show that the victim was held against her will. Holden v. United States, 388 F.2d 240, 242 (1 Cir. 1968). Then too, certain indications of a rape, items found at the scene of the attack which were used by the victim to take care of her personal needs, were corroborative of the charge that the kidnapers had transported their victim interstate from Washington, D. C., to the District of Maryland. We are of the opinion, therefore, that these contemporaneous criminal acts were essential to a full presentation of the kidnaping offense. There is no reason to fragmentize the event under inquiry. These details are integral parts of the offense charged. See McCormick, Evidence § 157, p. 328 (1954).

The second ground of appeal concerns a single statement by the prosecutor, in the course of his closing argument to the jury, to the effect that certain evidence and testimony was "uncontradicted and undisputed."³ Relying heavily on Griffin v. State of California, 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed. 2d 106 (1964), defendants argue that the challenged comment directed the jury's attention to their failure to testify and thus trespassed upon their Fifth Amendment rights.

Defendants, however, registered no objection to the prosecutor's argument. And in his charge, the trial judge fully and properly instructed the jury that it was to draw no inferences from defendants' failure to testify. Significantly, no exception was taken to the charge, nor was there any request for additional instructions.

Had defense counsel promptly objected when the prosecutor made the ambiguous remark complained of, and had the judge been afforded an opportunity to rectify the possible harm but declined to do so, we would be confronted with a different case. On this record,...