Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/482/1183/419331/
Timestamp: 2020-06-01 20:04:23
Document Index: 672800077

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2312', '§ 371', '§ 1952', '§ 2312', '§ 2312', '§ 371', '§ 2312', '§ 1952', '§ 2312']

United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Michael Anthony Romano and Stanley Yassen, Defendants-appellants.united States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Jack Riki Lynott, Defendant-appellant, 482 F.2d 1183 (5th Cir. 1973) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Fifth Circuit › 1973 › United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Michael Anthony Romano and Stanley Yassen, Defendan...
United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Michael Anthony Romano and Stanley Yassen, Defendants-appellants.united States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Jack Riki Lynott, Defendant-appellant, 482 F.2d 1183 (5th Cir. 1973)
US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - 482 F.2d 1183 (5th Cir. 1973) Aug. 6, 1973. Rehearing Denied No. 72-3166 Aug. 31, 1973. Rehearing Denied No. 72-3171 Oct. 5, 1973. Stay Denied Oct. 23, 1973. See 94 S. Ct. 293
Appellants, Jack Riki Lynott, Stanley Yassen, and Michael Anthony Romano, were tried before a jury and convicted on both counts of a two count indictment charging them with (1) violating the Dyer Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2312, by transporting a stolen automobile in interstate commerce while knowing it to have been stolen, and (2) violating the general conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 371, by conspiring to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1952 through a conspiracy to travel and cause travel in interstate commerce with intent to commit extortion in violation of the laws of Georgia. In this case appellants have conjured a potpourri of errors, all of which we have clinically microscoped and diagnosed. Finding no infirmity, we affirm.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the government, Glasser v. United States, 1942, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S. Ct. 457, 86 L. Ed. 680, 704, the evidence introduced at the second trial established that Oscar Stephens had been employed as a salesman in Marvin Aultman's used car businesses in Albany and Sylvester, Georgia. Beginning in 1971, Stephens and Aultman received stolen automobiles from the Boston, Massachusetts area from appellant Stanley Yassen and others, and then sold these vehicles in various Georgia automobile auctions. Apparently, Stephens and Aultman were not as diligent in paying for the stolen automobiles as they were in selling them, for by September 1, 1971, they owed Yassen several thousand dollars for automobiles he had sent down to them. The failure of Stephens and Aultman to make prompt recompense for their ill-gotten inventory precipitated the events leading to appellants' indictment and conviction.
Stephens was permitted to contact his wife from the motel. He informed her that he had been taken in a green Firebird to the Sylcree Motel, where he was being held captive and in danger. Mrs. Stephens then contacted the family attorney, Fred E. Bartlett, Jr., and informed him of her husband's plight. Attorney Bartlett contacted the Albany police department and relayed the contents of his conversation with Mrs. Stephens. He reported that Mr. Stephens had been abducted in connection with a transaction involving stolen cars and was being held at the Sylcree Motel by a group of men driving a green Firebird or Camaro. The Albany police then contacted the county police, who verified that a green Firebird was parked outside the Sylcree Motel. The next morning the Albany police, acting both on the information received from Bartlett and on supporting information supplied by the county police and the FBI, arrested appellants for kidnapping when they drove through Albany, Georgia, with Stephens. Appellants were held in state custody for fifteen days until the state grand jury declined to indict them for kidnapping. Thereafter, on September 17, 1971, appellants were arrested by the FBI for violating 18 U.S.C. § 2312.
After a four day jury trial, at which the jury heard and considered all of the evidence concerning the foregoing events, the jury found appellants guilty of (1) violating the Dyer Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2312, by knowingly transporting a stolen vehicle in interstate commerce, and (2) violating 18 U.S.C. § 371 by conspiring to travel and cause travel in interstate commerce with intent to commit extortion in violation of the laws of Georgia.
" [T]he Court, during the day, has been researching the question of whether or not a mistrial should be granted on the remarks of the prosecuting attorney that he could prove there were nine stolen cars but was only going to establish proof that there were three, and it is the judgment of this Court that the United States has two options. It may elect to present evidence on all nine automobiles or the Court will declare a mistrial."
" [T]he basic reason for the granting of a mistrial in this case was the fact that a motion for a mistrial was made by the defendants at the time that the prosecutor in his opening statement made the statement that is in the record, that regardless of the fact that the court, in ruling on the motion, put it in the alternative, that is, by telling the United States that the United States would have to prove the theft of nine automobiles or the court would grant a mistrial, it was obvious to the court at that time that the United States was not prepared to prove nine automobiles. The prosecuting attorney had so stated, the United States did not have witnesses for nine automobiles stolen in Massachusetts. So that alternative was obviously an empty gesture.
United States v. Jorn, 1971, 400 U.S. 470, 485, 91 S. Ct. 547, 557, 27 L. Ed. 2d 543, 556 (footnotes omitted) (emphasis added). Appellants' claim that their retrial was barred by double jeopardy, therefore must fall. See United States v. Iacovetti, 5 Cir. 1972, 466 F.2d 1147, 1152, cert. denied, 410 U.S. 908, 93 S. Ct. 963, 35 L. Ed. 2d 270 (1973); United States v. Lansdown, 4 Cir. 1972, 460 F.2d 164, 171 n. 8; United States v. Henderson, 1970, 142 U.S.App.D.C. 21, 439 F.2d 531, 532; Gregory v. United States, 1969, 133 U.S.App.D.C. 317, 410 F.2d 1016, 1018, cert. denied, 1969, 396 U.S. 865, 90 S. Ct. 143, 24 L. Ed. 2d 119.3
" [I]t would appear that this arrest took place on the part of the police officers of the City of Albany, within the city limits of Albany, Georgia . . . and that these police officers had more than probable cause to arrest whoever it was that was allegedly holding Oscar Stephens, a citizen of Albany, Georgia, against his will, which was the information relayed to these officers. The officers had not been furnished with the names of any alleged kidnappers or restrainers . . . and even had time permitted they could not have secured a warrant against unknown parties. If they had the names the record would indicate from the police officers viewpoint the time between the information being received by the detective, who came on at 7:00 or 7:30 in the morning, and the arrest which took place prior to 8:30 a. m., did not permit them to go and get a warrant for anybody's arrest from a duly authorized officer. All of that leads the Court to the conclusion that this arrest was legal, and that if any evidence resulted from it that there is no basis for the evidence to be suppressed."
Appellants were arrested for violating the laws of Georgia by kidnapping Oscar Stephens. Since the arrest was not made under a federal statute, the validity of the arrest is determined by the Georgia law of arrest, Nicholson v. United States, 5 Cir. 1966, 355 F.2d 80, 83, insofar as the Georgia law of arrest comports with federal constitutional standards. Cf. Whiteley v. Warden of Wyoming State Penitentiary, 1971, 401 U.S. 560, 91 S. Ct. 1031, 28 L. Ed. 2d 306; United States v. Lipscomb, 5 Cir. 1970, 435 F.2d 795, cert. denied, 1971, 401 U.S. 980, 91 S. Ct. 1213, 28 L. Ed. 2d 331. Georgia Code Sec. 27-207 provides that an officer may make a warrantless arrest where ". . . there is likely to be a failure of justice for want of an officer to issue a warrant." Georgia has apparently engrafted a probable cause requirement onto this statute, and in ascertaining the validity of a warrantless Georgia arrest this Circuit has consistently determined both whether there was likely to be a failure of justice for want of an officer to issue a warrant and whether there was probable cause for the arrest. See Crone v. United States, 5 Cir. 1969, 411 F.2d 251, 253, cert. denied, 1969, 396 U.S. 896, 90 S. Ct. 195, 24 L. Ed. 2d 173; Nicholson v. United States, supra. See also Paige v. Potts, 5 Cir. 1965, 354 F.2d 212, 213.4 We hold that under both standards the warrantless arrests of appellants were valid.
" [t]o rely on an informant's report to establish probable cause, it must first affirmatively appear that the agents were informed of:
United States v. Squella-Avendano, 5 Cir. 1971, 447 F.2d 575, 579, cert. denied, 1971, 404 U.S. 985, 92 S. Ct. 450, 30 L. Ed. 2d 369, quoting from Aguilar v. Texas, 1964, 378 U.S. 108, 114, 84 S. Ct. 1509, 12 L. Ed. 2d 723, 728-729. Bartlett's report was a factually detailed recitation of the information he had received from Mrs. Stephens. Bartlett himself was a credible source, an attorney at law licensed to practice in the State of Georgia. Cf. Ga.Code Sec. 9-601. Nonetheless, it might well be contended that the officers could not have relied upon Bartlett's credibility with regard to facts supplied by a third party, since it was the third party's information upon which probable cause had to be based. Moreover, although the police were perfectly justified in acting upon information received from a fellow officer, if Bartlett's report to that officer was unreliable, the report that was passed on to the arresting officers would necessarily also be unreliable. Cf. Whiteley v. Warden of Wyoming Penitentiary, supra, 401 U.S. at 568, 91 S. Ct. at 1037, 28 L. Ed. 2d at 313. However, " [i]nformation from an unidentified informant not known to be reliable, coupled with verification of that information in essential particulars, may form a basis for probable cause to arrest." United States v. Crane, 5 Cir. 1971, 445 F.2d 509, 519. See United States v. Gonzalez-Perez, 5 Cir. 1970, 426 F.2d 1283, 1286. In light of the fact that before the police arrested appellants, the police independently verified (1) the location and existence of the green Firebird parked outside of the Sylcree Motel, (2) the fact that Oscar Stephens was suspected by the FBI of having been involved in a transaction involving a stolen car, and (3) the fact that Oscar Stephens was in the company of three men driving a green Firebird, we hold that the police had obtained sufficient corroboration of Bartlett's report prior to the time of the arrest to provide probable cause for the warrantless arrest of appellants. Moreover, the district court's finding that there was insufficient time for the arresting officer to get a warrant is not clearly erroneous. We therefore hold that under both standards-probable cause and the likelihood of a failure of justice, the warrantless arrests of appellants were legal and the district court did not err in denying appellants' motions to suppress.
Barnett v. United States, supra, 384 F.2d at 858 (citations and footnotes omitted). The record in this case shows that appellants were arrested by state police officers, on state kidnapping charges, and were held in state custody for fifteen days. Only after a Georgia grand jury returned a no bill on the Georgia kidnapping charge on September 17, 1971, were appellants arrested by the FBI for violating 18 U.S.C. § 2312. On that same day, they were brought before a federal magistrate and received a preliminary hearing as required by Rule 5(a). "Where, as here, the period of state custody precedes a federal arrest, the claim of unnecessary delay is tested from the beginning of federal detention, unless collusion between state and federal authorities is shown. Lovelace v. United States, 357 F.2d 306 (5th Cir. 1966)." United States v. Brown, 5 Cir. 1971, 459 F.2d 319, 324. Appellants have totally failed to show any unnecessary delay between the period of their federal arrest and their preliminary hearing, and in light of the fact that appellants were brought before a Georgia grand jury to ascertain if state charges could be maintained, any contentions of federal collusion are without merit. See Barnett v. United States, supra.
Appellants next assert that their motion for acquittal should have been granted because the government failed to prove the existence and the violation of the applicable Georgia extortion statute, Ga.Code Sec. 26-1804. This contention is not meritorious. A federal judge may judicially notice the law of every state, and may inform himself or herself in any manner that he or she chooses, regardless of whether the statute is formally called to the judge's attention. Strickland v. Humble Oil and Refining Co., 5 Cir. 1944, 140 F.2d 83, 86, cert. denied, 1944, 323 U.S. 712, 65 S. Ct. 37, 89 L. Ed. 573. The trial judge did take judicial notice of the Georgia extortion statute, for he accurately instructed the jury concerning its elements and its relation to the charge of conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1952.5 Furthermore, although it was sufficient for the government to prove, as it did, that there was a conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce with intent to commit the Georgia crime of extortion, see United States v. Karigiannis, 7 Cir. 1970, 430 F.2d 148, 150, cert. denied, 1970, 400 U.S. 904, 91 S. Ct. 143, 27 L. Ed. 2d 141; United States v. Rizzo, 7 Cir. 1969, 418 F.2d 71, 74, cert. denied, 1970, 397 U.S. 967, 90 S. Ct. 1006, 25 L. Ed. 2d 260, and although there was no need for the government to prove that an extortion had been accomplished, the record amply demonstrates that appellants did in fact attempt to extort payments from Oscar Stephens and Marvin Aultman in violation of the Georgia extortion statute.
"Defendants may be joined in indictment and in trial if 'they are alleged to have participated in the same act or transactions or in the same series of acts or transactions constituting an offense or offenses,' F.R.Crim.Pro. 8(b) and 13, unless 'it appears that a defendant or the government is prejudiced by a joinder of offenses or of defendants . . . for trial together,' F.R.Crim.Pro. 14. All appellants in this case were alleged to have conspired to commit and to have committed precisely the same crime, allegations clearly within the ambit of 8(b). Once the conditions of Rule 8(b) are satisfied, it is then 'within the sound discretion of the trial judge as to whether the defendants should be tried together or severally.' Opper v. United States, (1954), 348 U.S. 84, 75 S. Ct. 158, 99 L. Ed. 101.
See also James v. United States, 5 Cir. 1967, 416 F.2d 467, 474, cert. denied, 1970, 397 U.S. 907, 90 S. Ct. 902, 25 L. Ed. 2d 87. The fact that Lynott was in jail during the period of time in which some of the vehicles for which appellants sought repayment were stolen in no way disproves his participation in the transportation of a stolen vehicle in interstate commerce after he was released from jail, or his participation after his release from jail in a scheme to extort payments for vehicles stolen while he was in jail. Since these are the crimes Lynott was charged with, he has failed to evince any evidence that he was prejudiced by the denial of his motion for severance, and we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying his motion. United States v. Nakaladski, 5 Cir. 1973, 481 F.2d 289; United States v. Iacovetti, supra, 466 F.2d at 1153; Smith v. United States, 5 Cir. 1967, 385 F.2d 34, 37.
Evidence of criminal conduct not charged in the indictment may not be admitted if it serves solely to show the defendant's bad character or criminal propensities, see Michelson v. United States, 1948, 335 U.S. 469, 475-476, 69 S. Ct. 213, 93 L. Ed. 168, 173-174; however, evidence of prior criminal transactions is admissible to show the defendant's motive or intent. United States v. Nakaladski, supra; Matthews v. United States, 5 Cir. 1969, 407 F.2d 1371, 1381, cert. denied, 1970, 398 U.S. 968, 90 S. Ct. 2177, 26 L. Ed. 2d 554. The evidence that Lynott challenges, that eight other stolen vehicles in addition to the automobile named in the indictment had been stolen and delivered to Aultman and Stephens, was highly relevant, in proving appellants' motive and intent in conspiring to cross interstate lines to extort payment for these automobiles from Aultman and Stephens. Therefore, the trial judge did not err in refusing to declare a mistrial when the government stated that it was going to prove that eight vehicles were stolen. Moreover, the jury was informed by a stipulation agreed to by the government that Lynott had been imprisoned during the period in which some of the eight vehicles were stolen, and so his contention that the opening statement prejudiced him by leading the jury to infer that he had participated in the theft of all eight vehicles is without merit.
Lynott was charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 2312 by knowingly transporting a stolen vehicle in interstate commerce, He was arrested in Georgia in possession of a vehicle that had recently been stolen in Massachusetts. Such possession, if not satisfactorily explained, is sufficient circumstantial evidence from which the jury could reasonably have inferred both that Lynott knew that the vehicle was stolen and that he had transported the automobile or caused it to be transported in interstate commerce. United States v. Jackson, 5 Cir. 1971, 444 F.2d 1389, 1390; United States v. Lawrence, 5 Cir. 1970, 427 F.2d 95, 96. The trial judge did not err in denying Lynott's motion for acquittal on this ground.
During the trial, Lynott attempted to convince the government to stipulate that he had been in jail from January 15, 1971, until August 6, 1971. The government refused to do so until the end of the trial, when a joint stipulation was read to the jury. Lynott now contends that the government infringed his rights by withholding exculpatory testimony. It is readily apparent that the government in no way violated the prescriptions of Brady v. Maryland, 1963, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215, for the evidence that the government allegedly withheld, Lynott's whereabouts from January 15, 1971, until August 6, 1971, was uniquely in Lynott's possession and could have been introduced and proved by him at any time during the trial. Nor can Lynott's contention that the government attempted to mislead the jury into believing that he had participated in stealing cars during the period when he was actually in prison be maintained. The government stipulation that Lynott was in prison from January 15, 1971, until August 6, 1971, fully apprised the jury of this "exculpatory" evidence.
Stephens also testified concerning telephone conversations that he had with appellant Yassen. He testified that in early 1970, Yassen called him and identified himself. Although Stephens had not met Yassen at the time of the conversation in question, when he did meet Yassen in September of 1971, he recognized Yassen's voice as that of the person to whom he had spoken approximately fifteen times concerning the selling of automobiles. The identification of Yassen's voice was a sufficient foundation for the admission of Stephens' testimony, for the requirement that a witness have a basis for identifying a voice as that of a particular person is satisfied even when the witness acquired his knowledge of the person's voice after the conversation testified to. See United States v. Moia, 2 Cir. 1958, 251 F.2d 255, 257. Cf. United States v. Cox, 449 F.2d 679, 690, cert. denied, 1972, 406 U.S. 934, 92 S. Ct. 1783, 32 L. Ed. 2d 136.
Welsh v. United States, supra, 404 F.2d at 417-418. See United States v. Hathcock, supra."
Oscar Stephens testified that during the time he was held captive by appellants, appellant Romano appeared to be in a drunken or drugged condition and "acted like he might not know what he was doing." Romano contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for acquittal because the foregoing testimony was sufficient to rebut the ordinary presumption of competency and that thereafter the government failed to carry its burden of proving Romano's competency once it had been put in issue. See Blake v. United States, 5 Cir. 1969, 407 F.2d 908. Romano's contention is meritless. There was absolutely no testimony, either by expert witness or by laymen, that Romano was insane. Construed most liberally, Stephens' testimony was at best evidentiary that Romano might well have been under the influence of drugs. Being voluntarily under the influence of drugs is not a legal equivalent of insanity, although it may be evidence that the defendant was incapable of forming a specific intent to commit the crimes with which he or she is charged. Cf. Kane v. United States, 9 Cir. 1968, 399 F.2d 730, cert. denied, 1969, 393 U.S. 1057, 89 S. Ct. 698, 21 L. Ed. 2d 699; Parker v. United States, 1966, 123 U.S.App.D.C. 343, 359 F.2d 1009. The district judge charged the jury:
We are thus not faced with a case where there is any intimation that the prosecutorial impropriety causing the mistrial arose from a fear that the jury was likely to acquit. See United States v. Tateo, 1964, 377 U.S. 463, 467 n. 3, 84 S. Ct. 1587, 12 L. Ed. 2d 448, 452 n. 3
Downum v. United States, 1963, 372 U.S. 734, 83 S. Ct. 1033, 10 L. Ed. 2d 100, relied on by appellants, is not at all dispositive, for in that case a mistrial was granted on motion of the prosecution over the defendant's objection