Court Opinion

ID: 9455359
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:19:54.23428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:34.110236
License: Public Domain

SWYGERT, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
On the morning of the second day of the .trial of this case, the Chicago Trib*1122une carried a news story which read in part:
BUSINESS MAN TELLS OF FRAUD BY LOAN SHARK Testifies in Trial in Federal Court
A Muncie, Ind., business executive testified yesterday in federal District court that a reputed crime syndicate loan shax'k and four other persons bilked him after offering to loan him $250,000.
On trial before Judge Alexander J. Napoli are Nimrod [Timmy] Solomon, 38, of 208 Willow st., reputed crime syndicate loan shark; George Sommer, 27, formerly of Los Angeles; and Aimer Linkon, 49, of 5701 Sheridan rd.
They are charged with conspiring to violate the federal fraud laws and with transporting a counterfeit $52,-000 cashier’s check across state lines from Chicago to North Vernon, Ind.
**■•**•**
Also named in the indictment were Luigi [Cockeyed Louie] Fratto, 58, of Des Moines, who died of cancer Nov. 24, 1967, and Allan Rosenberg, Link-on’s son-in-law, who was slain in gangland fashion March 17, 1967, in Chicago.
When the trial resumed, defense counsel called the trial judge’s attention to the article and moved for a mistrial or alternatively for the judge to interrogate the jurors individually. The judge refused to grant a mistrial, but did question the jurors individually while they were in the jury box. Six jurors and one alternate juror admitted they had read part or all of the article, but, in response to the judge’s further questioning, each said that his judgment would not be affected by the article. Defense counsel objected to the interrogation procedure, requesting that the jurors be questioned separately in chambers. The request was denied.
This newspaper article was highly prejudicial and inflammatory. The headline alone suggests that fraud — the very issue before the jury — was involved and characterizes one of the defendants by the opprobrious term, “loan shark.” The body of the article twice characterizes defendant Solomon as a “reputed crime syndicate loan shark.” Others named in the indictment are referred to as Luigi (Cockeyed Louie) Fratto and Allan Rosenberg, “who was slain in gangland fashion.” The article taken as a whole strongly suggests that the defendants are disreputable or dangerous characters and members or associates of an organized crime “mob.”
I believe that this case is controlled by Marshall v. United States, 360 U.S. 310, 79 S.Ct. 1171, 3 L.Ed.2d 1250 (1959), and later cases such as Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 83 S.Ct. 1417, 10 L.Ed. 2d 663 (1963), and Janko v. United States, 366 U.S. 716, 81 S.Ct. 1662, 6 L.Ed.2d 846 (1961), rev’g per curiam, 281 F.2d 156 (8th Cir. 1960). These cases stand for the proposition that publicity may be of such a character that a juror exposed to it will be presumed prejudiced regardless of whether he says he can remain impartial. I see no essential difference between the newspaper reference in Marshall to the defendant’s prior convictions and his history as an unlicensed physician and the reference here to Solomon’s relation to the crime syndicate and his activities as a “loan shark.” Similarly, in Janko the defendant was referred to in a St. Louis newspaper as a “former employee of the east side rackets’ boss Frank (Buster) Wortman.”
In future cases I would prefer that we adopt the standard proposed by the American Bar Association’s Standards Relating To Fair Trial And Free Press, § 3.5(f) (1968). Under that standard a juror is subject to challenge if the potential prejudicial material to which he has been exposed “would furnish grounds for a mistrial if referred to in the trial itself.” Measured by that standard, the adverse publicity contained in the article in question would require a mistrial.
I would also reverse in light of the failure of the trial judge to comply with the *1123rule established in United States v. Accardo, 298 F.2d 133 (7th Cir. 1962), and restated in United States v. Margoles, 407 F.2d 727 (7th Cir. 1969). In Accardo after observing that there is no certainty that' jurors will admit they were influenced by prejudicial publicity, citing Coppedge v. United States, 106 U.S.App.D.C. 275, 272 F.2d 504 (1959), Judge Kiley wrote: “He [the trial judge] should have, by the careful examination of each juror, out of the presence of the others, determined the effect of the articles on those who had read them and whether they had discussed the articles with others. * * * These individual interviews would have tended to overcome reluctance to speak out.”
In Margóles Chief Judge Castle after discussing Accardo and two subsequent decisions of this court, United States v. Jannsen, 339 F.2d 916 (7th Cir. 1964), and United States v. Largo, 346 F.2d 253 (7th Cir. 1965), stated:
Thus, the procedure required by this Circuit where prejudicial publicity is brought to the court’s attention during a trial is that the court must ascertain if any jurors who had been exposed to such publicity had read or heard the same. Such jurors who respond affirmatively must then be examined, individually and outside the presence of the other jurors, to determine the effect of the publicity. However, if no juror indicates, upon inquiry made to the jury collectively, that he has read or heard any of the publicity in question, the judge is not required to proceed further.
I am unable to agree with the majority that prior to Margóles this court’s opinions “merely expressed a preference” that jurors exposed to adverse publicity be examined out of the presence of the other jurors, but did not demand “adoption of any particular procedure.” Judge Kiley’s language in Accardo is unequivocal and was so interpreted by Chief Judge Castle in Margoles, supra, 407 F.2d at 734-735. Furthermore, neither Jannsen nor Largo modified the Accardo rule in a substantial manner.
In Jannsen we held that strict compliance with the Accardo rule was unnecessary since each juror denied having read the adverse publicity. We concluded “precautions that might have been required in interrogating jurors who had read a newspaper account need not have been taken” in those circumstances. In Largo this court held that under the facts of that case no error was committed by not following the Accardo rule. However, Judge Enoch, speaking for the majority, voiced the caveat: “We believe the better practice is to interview each juror singly out of the presence of all of the other jurors. If the evidence adduced at the trial here had presented a close issue of guilt or innocence, we might well have concluded that prejudicial error existed in this case.” For these reasons, I do not believe that Margóles announced a new rule for this circuit, but merely restated the Accardo rule with the added refinement prescribed in Jannsen.
Assuming, arguendo, that Margóles did establish for the first time in this circuit a fixed rather than a preferred rule, I find nothing in that decision to indicate that it should not be applied retroactively. That such treatment was not intended is corroborated by two cases decided by this court after the Margóles decision, United States v. Rizzo, 409 F.2d 400 (7th Cir. 1969), United States v. Hutul, 416 F.2d 607 (7th Cir. 1969). Both cases involve trials which took place prior to this court’s decision in Margóles. Each opinion cites the Margóles rule and implies that Margóles would govern if the facts of those cases had called for its application.
SWYGERT, J., voted to grant.