Court Opinion

ID: 9455650
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:28:33.432978+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:40.612689
License: Public Domain

ROBB, Circuit Judge:
I dissent. In my judgment the principle of collateral estoppel cannot rightly be invoked to exclude the testimony of McFarland that the appellants stole an automobile.
The doctrine of collateral estoppel in criminal cases is that when a question of fact essential to the judgment is litigated and determined in one prosecution, the determination is conclusive between the parties in any subsequent prosecution, whether for the same or a different offense. Sealfon v. United States, 332 U.S. 575, 68 S.Ct. 237, 92 L.Ed. 180 (1948); Laughlin v. United States, 120 U.S.App.D.C. 93, 344 F.2d 187 (1965); Mahoney v. United States, 137 U.S.App.D.C. 420 F.2d 253, decided December 15, 1969. The rule applies only to questions which were determined by the prior verdict or judgment, and the court looks to the record of the first proceeding to determine what those questions were. United States v. Friedland, 391 F.2d 378, 382 (2d Cir. 1968). Here the record establishes that the question of fact raised by McFarland’s testimony at the second trial — whether the appellants stole an automobile — was not determined by the prior judgment of acquittal.
McFarland testified at the second trial that in preparing for the holdup he and the appellants “stole an automobile” in which they drove to St. Elizabeths Hospital and later made their getaway. The premise of the majority opinion is that this stolen car was the subject of the count on which a verdict of ac*663quittal was entered in the first trial. The record does not support the asserted premise. On the contrary, the transcript of the proceedings in the first trial, which is part of the record before us, discloses that counsel for the appellants argued on their motion for judgment of acquittal that “there is nothing * * * which in any manner relates the vehicle alleged to have been used in this robbery to the vehicle described in count one of the indictment.” The district judge agreed, and granted the motion upon the ground that “the evidence does not establish that the car that was used in the alleged robbery was in fact the car that was in fact allegedly stolen”. It is plain therefore that the judgment in the first trial determined only the question of fact there in issue, that is, whether the appellants stole the particular automobile described in count one of the indictment. That determination, relating to an automobile that was not shown to be the one used in the robbery, did not conclude the question of fact raised by the testimony of McFarland at the second trial, that is, whether the appellants “stole cm automobile” for use in the robbery. (Emphasis supplied). In short, the prior judgment did not, as a matter of law, negative McFarland’s testimony.
I do not suggest, as the majority implies, that there were two cars. All that need be said is that the record of the first trial is inconclusive on the issue of whether the car used in the robbery was the car described in the indictment, for collateral estoppel cannot be invoked to preclude litigation of an issue not conclusively determined in a prior trial. Furthermore, the burden of showing that the prior judgment was conclusive rested on the parties claiming the estoppel, not on the government, so that there was no need for the government to show that some other car’" was used in the robbery. United States v. Friedland, 391 F.2d 378, 382 (2d Cir. 1968). If it be thought that this analysis is technical the answer must be that the entire subject of collateral estoppel, including the application of the doctrine by the majority, is highly technical; “and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you”.
The majority’s reliance upon collateral estoppel is misplaced. In my opinion the appellants’ other claims of error are also without merit. I would affirm the convictions.