Walker v. United States

• Decision Date: 09 June 1966
• Docket Number: No. 19962.,19962.
• Citation: 124 US App. DC 194,363 F.2d 681
• Parties: Robert WALKER, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

124 US App. DC 194, 363 F.2d 681 (1966)

Robert WALKER, Appellant, v.UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 19962.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued May 27, 1966.

Decided June 9, 1966.

Mr. John Silard, Washington, D. C.(appointed by this court), for appellant.

Mr. Michael R. Sonnenreich, Attorney, Department of Justice, with whom Messrs. David G. Bress, U. S. Atty., and Frank Q. Nebeker, Asst. U. S. Atty., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before WRIGHT, McGOWAN and LEVENTHAL, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

In this appeal from a jury conviction of housebreaking, housebreaking while armed with a weapon, assault with a dangerous weapon, and carrying a dangerous weapon, only one reason is advanced for reversal.It is that the trial court abused its discretion — to the point of plain error within the meaning of Rule 52(b), FED.R.CRIM.P. — by permitting the prosecution to bring out on cross-examination of appellant a prior conviction for the last of these offenses.¹

It may well be true, as appellant argues, that this prior conviction played some part in shaping the jury's conclusions.The question of whether the gun in the case belonged to the complaining witness or to appellant was contested at length in the testimony, and presumably occupied a central place in the jury's view of the whole case.But that this was likely to happen must have been evident in advance, and yet the defense made no effort, before appellant took the witness stand, to raise with the trial court the question of whether this prior conviction should be kept out in order to assure the availability to the jury of the accused's version of the events in dispute.SeeLuck v. United States, 121 U.S.App. D.C. 151, 348 F.2d 763(1965).And even when the prosecutor,...