Task: songer_othcrim

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals. The issue is: "Did the court rule for the defendant on grounds other than procedural grounds? For example, right to speedy trial, double jeopardy, confrontation, retroactivity, self defense." This includes the question of whether the defendant waived the right to raise some claim. Answer the question based on the directionality of the appeals court decision. If the court discussed the issue in its opinion and answered the related question in the affirmative, answer "Yes". If the issue was discussed and the opinion answered the question negatively, answer "No". If the opinion considered the question but gave a mixed answer, supporting the respondent in part and supporting the appellant in part, answer "Mixed answer". If the opinion does not discuss the issue, or notes that a particular issue was raised by one of the litigants but the court dismissed the issue as frivolous or trivial or not worthy of discussion for some other reason, answer "Issue not discussed". If the opinion considered the question but gave a "mixed" answer, supporting the respondent in part and supporting the appellant in part (or if two issues treated separately by the court both fell within the area covered by one question and the court answered one question affirmatively and one negatively), answer "Mixed answer". If the opinion either did not consider or discuss the issue at all or if the opinion indicates that this issue was not worthy of consideration by the court of appeals even though it was discussed by the lower court or was raised in one of the briefs, answer "Issue not discussed". If the court answered the question in the affirmative, but the error articulated by the court was judged to be harmless, answer "Yes, but error was harmless". 

PER CURIAM.
Defendant’s appeal raises three questions, two of which are so lacking in merit as to require no mention. The third is more troublesome. The defendant was indicted for larceny of government property. 18 U.S.C. § 641. One of the items he was charged with taking was certain U. S. currency, allegedly belonging to the petty cash fund of a government installation. In the course of the trial at which defendant was convicted, it was sought to show on cross-examination of two government witnesses that this money belonged to a government employee who was merely indebted to the government therefor, as distinguished from being directly owned by the government. This would have been fatal to that aspect of the government’s case. At one stage of the interrogation the court sustained a government objection, stating that indisputably the money in the fund constituted government property.
The relevant portions of the testimony include the following. On cross-examination a Mr. Clark, a government witness, testified as follows.
A. I think I said personally responsible.
Q. Personally responsible for. And that money becomes your money, and you owe the money to the United States by accounting for how it is spent?
A. That is correct.
Later, when co-defendant’s counsel referred to this testimony, the following colloquy occurred.
The COURT. I think not, Mr. Berk. The money didn’t belong to Mr. Clark. It wasn’t usable for Mr. Clark’s purposes; it was merely a trust fund of money belonging to the Government. I don’t find any merit in that contention.
Mr. BERK. Does the Court make that finding?
The COURT. I do. It was the property of the United States Government.
Defendant noted his objection.
The court could properly make a ruling of law with respect to title, predicated upon findings of fact which it left to the jury. However, it is clear that the court did more. It left nothing to the jury. It made a “finding” that the money belonged to the government, which was not only an essential element in the government’s case, but depended upon an acceptance of the testimony of the government witnesses. The court cannot make a finding accepting the government’s testimony, no matter how clear it may be; the burden still remained on the government to prove the money in the fund belonged to it. Testimony, though unchallenged, may still be disbelieved. As we said in DeCecco v. United States, 1 Cir., 1964, 338 F.2d 797, at 798, “No matter how persuasive the government’s evidence may seem to the court, there is no burden on a defendant to dispute it.” We held it to be error in DeCecco for the court to inform the jury that it did not have to make a finding as to a certain element in the government’s case because the defendant did not dispute it. It was even greater error for the court here to make such a statement when counsel had, although possibly ineffectively, sought to make an issue of the matter.
Reversed, new trial ordered.

Question: Did the court rule for the defendant on grounds other than procedural grounds? For example, right to speedy trial, double jeopardy, confrontation, retroactivity, self defense. This includes the question of whether the defendant waived the right to raise some claim.
A. No
B. Yes
C. Yes, but error was harmless
D. Mixed answer
E. Issue not discussed
Answer:

Answer: B