Opinion ID: 294194
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: I think I had a barbecue.

Text: 31 Q. Outside? 32 A. Yes. 33 Q. On the 16th of January? 34 A. Uh-huh. 35 Q. That would have been one year and three days ago. 36 A. No, not the barbecue outside. I am sorry. I was thinking about — during the 4th of July. I am sorry. That was my mistake there. 37 Q. You get January 3rd mixed up with July 4th? 38 A. Yeah. 39 It is highly questionable whether defendant has a plausible claim of prejudice based on an inability to recall events. Although he testified that he vaguely remembered what he was doing on the day of the 16th, which is irrelevant anyway, there is not the same hesitancy in regard to his activity on the evening of the 16th, the time in question. He clearly and unequivocably stated that he was paying bank pool on this evening although he was unsure of with whom. 40 Furthermore, even assuming a plausible claim of inability to recall events, defendant has failed to show the necessary specific impairment of his ability to defend himself such as actual disappearance of witnesses or other evidence. Hodges v. United States, supra; United States v. Ewell, supra. The informant Walker was available to testify. As to Sam and Jerry Parker, individuals who allegedly could testify as to defendant's activities on the evening of the 16th, defendant testified that Sam Parker was in a federal institution for drug addicts and that Jerry Parker was around somewhere. Thus these possible witnesses had not disappeared and their actual unavailability is on this record mere supposition. Neither is there anything in the record to show that Chuck and Michael, defendant's supposed pool partners on the night of the 16th were unavailable or that defendant even wanted them as witnesses. 41 In short, the only specific claim made by defendant in respect to impairment of his ability to defend himself is the answer about barbecuing outside on January 16th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We reiterate that a defendant must show more than a general inability to defend himself. Defendant's statements as to barbecuing are no more than expression of this general inability. 42 Furthermore, while defendant's answer about barbecuing may have had some impact on his credibility, he has arguably not even established a general inability to recall events since the night of the 16th rather than the day of the 16th was the relevant time in question. 43 In any event, we find that when viewed in the context of the entire case, this one isolated misstatement, which defendant himself later corrected on cross-examination, does not rise to that level of prejudice required for reversal on the ground of denial of due process. 44 In addition to a pre-indictment delay as potentially violative of a defendant's right to due process predicated on impairment of ability to defend oneself, this Court in Terlikowski v. United States, supra, also stated that due process may be denied in cases involving pre-indictment delay where the government had deliberately utilized the delay to strengthen its position by weakening that of the defendant. 45 Defendant seems to allege a deliberate and ill-motivated delay by the Government in the instant case. Specific reference is made to the Government's response to a bill of particulars as well as the delay itself as evidence of the Government's deliberateness. The request for a bill of particulars was filed by the defendant prior to trial and granted by the district court. The bill of particulars requested the United States attorney to name those persons to whom the alleged sales charged in the indictment had been made. On January 2, 1970, the United States attorney answered that both sales had been made to special agent T. V. Yarn. On January 16, 1970, three days prior to trial, the Government amended the bill of particulars to show that the sale alleged in Count I of the indictment had been made to one John Walker. 46 We find nothing which would establish that the government's failure to originally name John Walker as a buyer was a deliberate attempt to gain advantage of defendant or was anything more than an honest mistake on the part of the United States attorney. Furthermore, defendant's defense was not weakened by the belated amendment. The trial court offered defendant a continuance and a subpoena to secure Walker, the informer, as a witness but defendant declined to do so. Defendant's assertion of intentional concealment of a witness by the Government, besides being unsupported by the record, is also rendered meaningless since defendant has made no showing wherein his defense was hampered. 47 As for the delay itself demonstrating improper intentions on the part of the Government, the courts are concerned not only with the delay but also the needs of society. United States v. Ewell, supra; Hodges v. United States, supra. Agent Yarn testified that the delay was necessitated because he was engaged in a continuing investigation of illegal drug traffic in the Minneapolis area. He also stated that these investigations involved friends of defendant Golden. We are not unmindful of the risks inherent in undercover criminal investigations where informers are employed. Often for reasons of personal safety as well as a complete investigation, delay is of great necessity. United States v. Deloney, supra. 48 We, therefore, find that the delay was not deliberately intended to prejudice defendant and, further, that defendant has failed to establish any prejudice resulting from the delay. 49 Defendant relies heavily on Ross v. United States, 121 U.S.App.D.C. 233, 349 F.2d 210 (1965) and Woody v. United States, 125 U.S.App.D.C. 192, 370 F. 2d 214 (1966) for reversal of his conviction. In Ross a seven month delay between the alleged offense and indictment on a narcotics charge was held violative of defendant's right to due process. One of the reasons for reversal was the fallibility of the evidence in respect to identification of the defendant as the person who had sold the drugs. The defendant in Ross was identified by uncorroborated evidence of rookie police officers who made their identification solely on notebook descriptions which were inaccurate. The Ross court intimated that the preindictment delay itself could have been overridden if the government had presented a stronger case. 50 In Woody, supra, a narcotics conviction was reversed where there was only a four month delay between the alleged offense and the arrest. Judge Bazelon, the writer of the Ross opinion, amplified on Ross in Woody: 51 Our discussion of prejudice in Ross and the subsequent Narcotics Delay cases was framed primarily in terms of the ability of the accused to prepare and present a defense at trial. But the ultimate prejudice that has concerned us in these cases has been the risk of erroneous conviction attributable to the process which led to the verdict of guilt. Delays prior to arrest which hinder or prevent presentation of a defense shackle our system of determining truth through the adversary process. The reliability of the verdict then depends solely upon the quality of the police identification. The more inherently unreliable the method of identification, the more the ultimate prejudice — the risk of erroneous conviction. 370 F.2d at 216. (Emphasis added.) 52 The Woody court found the same identification problems present in Ross and, because of the weakness of the government's case, reversed the conviction. 53 The rationale of Ross and Woody is further explained in Dancy v. United States, 129 U.S.App.D.C. 413, 395 F.2d 636 (1968). In Dancy, the court upheld a narcotics conviction where the delay between the offense and arrest was four months, identical to the delay in Woody. Ross and Woody were clearly limited to cases involving problems of identification of the defendant. Absent identification problems, the court stated that the only issue in cases involving pre-indictment delay was whether a defendant's ability to defend himself had been impaired. 54 While this Court has never expressly accepted the reasoning of Ross and its progeny, neither have we ever expressly rejected such reasoning. In Terlikowski, supra, we found Ross inapplicable on its facts. We likewise find Ross and its progeny inapplicable to the present case. 55 The identification of defendant Golden by agent Yarn does not submit to the identification weaknesses inherent in Ross or Woody. Yarn made two purchases of narcotics from defendant at defendant's home. The purchases were face to face encounters in a lighted room. Yarn had seen pictures of defendant prior to the nights in question. Yarn also made an in-court identification of defendant without having to refresh his recollection in any way. Furthermore, at least one other narcotics agent observed Yarn and the informant enter and leave defendant's house on the dates alleged, thus corroborating Yarn's testimony to that extent. 56 We are, therefore, not confronted with the peculiar problems of identification detailed in Ross and Woody. We find the identification of defendant Golden by agent Yarn not to possess the prerequisite infirmities necessary to the invocation of the Ross result. 57 Defendant Golden also claims prejudice by the Government's failure to call the informant Walker as a Government witness. 58 As this Court recently stated in United States v. Mosby, 422 F.2d 72 (8th Cir. 1970): 59 Absent unusual circumstances such as knowingly concealing evidence favorable to a defendant, the Government has a wide discretion with respect to the witnesses to be called to prove its case. The government is not ordinarily compelled to call all witnesses competent to testify including special agents or informers. 422 F. 2d at 74.