Opinion ID: 288980
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the dropping of perjury charges against a witness subsequent to trial.

Text: 29 The record shows that while they plies only to Ballard. Homer Leon Murray, Ballard's stepbrother, was first interviewed in Florida on June 20, 1968 by special agents of the F.B.I. At that time he stated to the F.B.I. that Ballard had admitted to him that he, Ballard, had participated in the bank robbery in Slayden, Mississippi. Subsequently, at a removal hearing held in Florida on July 2, 1968, Murray repudiated his previous story and denied that Ballard had admitted participating in the bank robbery. Murray was then arrested on a charge of perjury. After he had been in jail three days, he requested, through his wife, that F.B.I. agents interview him again. At the second interview, he gave a signed statement to agents of the F.B.I. admitting that he had perjured himself at the removal hearing and reaffirming the first story he had told that Ballard had admitted participating in the Slayden bank robbery. 30 Murray was called as a witness for the prosecution at the trial of this case and testified that Ballard had admitted participation in the bank robbery to him. On cross-examination Murray admitted that he was then under a charge of perjury for the change in his story in Florida, and counsel argued the possible effect of this perjury charge on Murray's testimony to the jury in his closing argument. During the trial, Ballard's counsel moved to strike the testimony of Murray and moved for a mistrial, and the court overruled both motions. After Ballard's trial and conviction the perjury charges pending against Murray were dropped. 31 Ballard would have us now infer that because the charges against Murray were dropped soon after Murray testified against Ballard, there was some sort of agreement between the government and Murray that these charges would be dropped if Murray's testimony against Ballard was favorable to the government. There is absolutely nothing in the record to support this contention. Ballard cites us to Napue v. Illinois, 24 but we do not find Napue to be in point here. In Napue, it was established that the State had deliberately participated in misleading the jury when one of the prosecution witnesses was examined concerning any 'deals' which he might have made in exchange for his testimony. As indicated in Napue, such a deal does not call for the exclusion of the testimony, but rather the defendant is entitled to a full disclosure of all the facts concerning the deal before the jury. The Court said in part: 32 'Had the jury been apprised of the true facts, however, it might well have concluded that Hamer had fabricated testimony in order to curry the favor of the very representative of the State who was prosecuting the case in which Hamer was testifying, for Hamer might have believed that such a representative was in a position to implement (as he ultimately attempted to do) any promise of consideration.' 25 33 We are in accord with the rationale and rule expressed by the Ninth Circuit in Barnard v. United States: 26 34 'We do not agree that the Deegan testimony should be excluded. Every exclusionary rule, while it may be a barrier to deception in one case, may be a barrier to truth in another. We are reluctant to create a new one. Competent counsel, with a full story of the government's treatment of the Deegans before the jury, may well be able to convince the jury that they should not be believed. This opportunity, we think, is all that Weinstein (the defendant) is entitled to.' 27 35 In the case at bar, there was a full disclosure of the circumstances surrounding the perjury charges against Murray, and there was not only a full opportunity to go into these matters but they were in fact pursued in some detail. We do not think that Ballard was entitled to more. 36