Opinion ID: 248931
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Exclude One of the Witnesses from the Courtroom

Text: 15 The objuction to the reception of the testimony of Howard Richardson, a special agent of the Federal Bureau 0f Investigation, is equally untenable. Richardson testified that Schoppel admitted having changed his shirt after the attack. The appellant claims that this was significant because at the time he was apprehended several hours later, the shirt which he was wearing had only a small amount of blood on it, all of which was his own. The appellant argues that if he had been holding the guard as the Government's witnesses testified, a great amount of Hughes' blood also would have been on the shirt. 16 It is contended that the District Court erred in permitting Richardson to testify because he had been allowed to be present during the entire trial, while all other witnesses were excluded by the District Judge. Richardson was allowed to remain because he had coordinated the investigation and was assisting the prosecution in presenting certain phases of the testimony and in the introduction of the various exhibits in proper order. 17 The Sixth Circuit had a case almost identical in this regard in Powell v. United States, 6 Cir., 1953, 208 F.2d 618, 619, certiorari denied 1954, 347 U.S. 961, 74 S.Ct. 710, 98 L.Ed. 1104, rehearing denied 1954, 347 U.S. 979, 74 S.Ct. 789, 98 L.Ed. 1118, certiorari denied 1955, 348 U.S. 939, 75 S.Ct. 357, 99 L.Ed. 736. The court said: 18 'Appellant contends that the District Court committed reversible error in allowing one of the government witnesses to be present in the courtroom during the presentation of the government's case and to testify as a witness after the court had granted a motion to separate the witnesses. This contention has no merit. The exclusion of witnesses from the courtroom is a matter restin the sound discretion of the trial court and the exercise of that discretion will not be disturbed except in case of clear abuse. Leache v. State, 22 Tex.App. 279, 3 S.W. 539; 53 Am.Jur. 47. No abuse of discretion existed here for it is the uniform rule in this jurisdiction in the conduct of criminal trials that an officer in charge of the case be permitted to sit in the courtroom through the trial and to advise counsel for the government, even though he himself testifies as a witness. Hughes v. State, 126 Tenn. 40, 148 S.W. 543; State v. Ede, 167 Or. 640, 117 P.2d 235.' 19 We think the same rule is applicable in this case, and it was not an abuse of discretion for the District Court to permit Richardson to be called to the witness stand. 2