Court Opinion

ID: 9652644
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 17:29:36.101367+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:17.345222
License: Public Domain

MILLER, Associate Justice.
I concur in the majority opinion except as to points I and II. As to them I dissent. The Supreme Court has warned repeatedly against arbitrary action in the trial court which deprives accused persons of due process of law.1 One of the important guarantees, of fair trial, as provided in the Sixth Amendment, is that an accused person shall enjoy the right “to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.” This right includes a reasonable time in which to procure witnesses; and it has- been held that refusal by the court to grant a continuance so that certain witnesses could be summoned was an abuse of discretion and a denial of the right guaranteed by the Constitution.2
Appellant Neufield, in whose behalf request was made for a continuance, had been incarcerated in Sing Sing Prison. Seven and one-half years had elapsed during which he had been out of touch with his friends, acquaintances, and the rest of the world. Approximately two months before the trial in the lower court, he had been released on bail. Eight days before trial he received notice of the trial date. He and his counsel spent four days searching for witnesses, with the aid of process servers and a private detective. They had failed so far, but assured the court that within two weeks they could find them and be ready for trial. The lower court arbitrarily refused the request. No occasion for such haste appears *392in the record. The Government, for seven and one-half years, had every facility for keeping in touch with its witnesses; the accused had none. But the fact that he spent those years in a penitentiary and came out only two months before trial, stripped, by prison discipline, of the initiative which might have made him more alert in protecting his own interests, does not deprive him of the presumption of innocence or of any right guaranteed by the Constitution.3 Neither was there any showing of bad faith upon his part. He had waived extradition; he had asked for no previous stay; he apparently was cooperating with the Government in every proper way. It would seem -that the Government should have been active to insure to him full enjoyment of his constitutional rights, and the court zealous to preserve them for him. His request was a reasonable one and certainly not unusual in trial court practice. This action, together with others hereafter discussed, constituted, in my opinion, an abuse of discretion.
With regard to the court’s refusal to issue an order for the witness Waldron, the constitutional right to obtain witnesses makes it the duty of the court, upon application of a prisoner, to send for such witnesses, wherever they may be had within the jurisdiction of the court, and at the expense of the Government, .if the prisoner proves that he is poor and unable to bear the expense himself.4 The court neither inquired, nor did it permit a showing, as to whether the accused could bear such expense.
If the order had issued as requested the desired witness could have been produced within four days. Counsel stated that he had just been advised of the availability of the witness; that Waldron was a material witness cannot be questioned; that he was unavailable to the accused without such-an order is apparent because of the rigid discipline of the federal prison administration over prisoners incarcerated at Alcatraz, Under the circumstances it is difficult to see in what respect the application was unseasonable. The fact that the witness was at Alcatraz — in Government custody — would seem to argue in favor of the application rather than against it.
A second important guarantee of the Sixth Amendment is that an accused shall enjoy the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defense in cases involving noncapital offenses as well as capital offenses.5 If this means anything it means intelligent, prepared6 and effective assistance.7 Although robbery is not a capital offense, it is nevertheless one of the most serious in character, and the rule is equally applicable. The record shows that appellant Flynn was still in jail up to the time of the trial. He, too, had been in the penitentiary, had been released on parole, *393and was again in jail, on account of the present accusation.
Even the cold record8 reveals irascibility, impatience and resentment upon the part of the trial judge, and that the Assistant District Attorney entered fully into his mood. But the record fails completely to reveal any reason therefor. Every request made by counsel was a reasonable one; the showing was ample for a continuance;9 the perseverance of counsel in the face of judicial arbitrariness was commendable; and, in my opinion, the court’s action constituted an abuse of discretion. As the Supreme Court has said: “It is hardly necessary to say that, the right to counsel being conceded, a defendant should be afforded a fair opportunity to secure counsel of his own choice.”10
We have said that: “The trial judge should be so impartial, in the trial of a criminal case, that by no word or act of his may the jury be able to detect his personal convictions as to the guilt or innocence of the accused.”11 Several statements of the trial judge, in the present case, some of which were made in the presence of the jury, were, in my opinion, clearly prejudicial, evidencing hostility to the accused and their counsel; and seriously calculated to prejudice the minds of the jurors against them. For example, his comment: “That is because some of these men have been in the penitentiary,” was certainly not calculated to suggest impartiality. Moreover, this atmosphere of partiality and hostility was contributed to by the Assistant District Attorney;12 apparently unrebuked by the court. In this regard attention should be called to his comment: “Mr. John P. Mullen called at my office at least a month ago and stated he represented Flynn.” No opportunity was given Flynn — who, it will be remembered, was entirely unrepresented by counsel — to reply to this statement or to mitigate whatever effect it may have had upon the jury, as, for example, from the covert suggestion that the alleged Mullen had investigated and abandoned Flynn’s defense. Attention should be called, also, to the statement made by the Assistant District Attorney: “May I state that his client [Neufield] knew it [Waldron’s incarceration at Alcatraz] in 1934, because I have a letter from the defendant at that time, stating that.” This statement was inadmissible in evidence for any purpose, in view of the fact that appellant did not testify in his own behalf. Although it was made out of the hearing of the jury, its effect' upon the judge — intended, as it apparently was, to show acquaintance between the accused and a man who had pleaded guilty to the'same offense — was reflected in the court’s curt responses to counsel’s request for an order to produce the witness, which followed immediately the statement volunteered by the Assistant District Attorney:
“Mr. Solomon. Your Honor will not issue an order for him?
“The Court. No; I will not.
“Mr. Solomon. May I have an exception?
“The Court. No; I understand he is in Alcatraz.”
“While there is perhaps no single instance involving error so prejudicial as to warrant reversal, we are convinced that, considered as a whole, the rights of defendant were so prejudiced thereby as to deprive him of that fair and impartial trial which the Constitution and the law of the land accords to every citizen accused of the commission of crime.”13
In my opinion the judgment should be reversed and the case remanded for a new trial.

 Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461; Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 53 S.Ct. 55, 77 L.Ed. 158, 84 A.L.R. 527.

 Paoni v. United States, 3 Cir., 281 F. 801.

 Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 52, 53 S.Ct. 55, 58, 77 L.Ed. 158, 84 A.L.R. 527: “It was the duty of the court * * * to see that they were denied no necessary incident of a fair trial.”

 United States v. Kenneally, 26 Fed.Cas. 760, No. 15,522.

 Bridwell v. Aderhold, D.C.N.D.Ga., 13 F.Supp. 253, 254, 255, aff’d. Bridwell v. Zerbst, 5 Cir., 92 F.2d 748, rev’d on other grounds, 5 Cir., 97 F.2d 992, because of decision in Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461: “It will be observed that the guaranty of the right to assistance of counsel and compulsory process for obtaining witnesses is contained in the same clause and expressed in substantially the same language as the guaranty of the right to trial by jury. The amendment guarantees this right to the accused ‘in any criminal prosecution.’ There is no limitation of these rights to cases where the accused is charged with a capital offense, as urged by respondent, and no reason appears in logic, morals, or humanity why an accused, in danger of deprivation of his life or liberty, should, in any criminal prosecution, be deprived of these rights by implication. These are fundamental rights which the courts should safeguard with meticulous care and award to the accused, whether requested or not, unless waived by him in a manner showing his express and intelligent consent.”

 Johnston v. Commonwealth, 276 Ky. 615, 622, 623, 124 S.W.2d 1035, 1038: “A request for a continuance of a trial is but a means to an end. The end is a fair trial. The rules by which such motion is to be measured are but secondary means. If their application, though apparently proper at the time, seems to have been unjust, or to have had disastrous result, the error ought to be corrected on the motion for the new trial. What should more profoundly concern the courts on review is whether the right end was achieved— whether there is justice in the verdict. If it appears there is not, the court should be sensitive to the situation and not permit the accused to be sacrificed on the altar of legal formalism, too literally applied.”

 Thomas v. District of Columbia, 67 App.D.C. 179, 90 F.2d 424.

 Avery v. Alabama, 308 U.S. 444, 447, 60 S.Ct. 321, 322, 84 L.Ed. 377: “But where denial of the constitutional right to assistance of counsel is asserted, its peculiar sacredness demands that we scrupulously review the record.”

 Avery v. Alabama, 308 U.S. 444, 446, 60 S.Ct. 321, 322, 84 L.Ed. 377: “But the denial of opportunity for appointed counsel to confer, to consult with the accused and to prepare his defense, could convert the appointment of counsel into a sham and nothing more than a formal compliance with the Constitution’s requirement that an accused be given the assistance of counsel. The Constitution’s guarantee of assistance of counsel cannot be satisfied by mere formal appointment.”

 Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 53, 53 S.Ct. 55, 58, 77 L.Ed. 158, 84 A.L.R. 527.

 Egan v. United States, 52 App.D.C. 384, 397, 287 F. 958, 971.

 See Berger v. United States, 295 U. S. 78, 88, 55 S.Ct. 629, 79 L.Ed. 1314; Allen v. United States, 9 Cir., 115 F. 3, 9.

 Egan v. United States, 52 App.D.C, 384, 397, 287 F. 958, 971.