Court Opinion

ID: 9456227
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:46:22.863804+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:54.044424
License: Public Domain

ELY, Circuit Judge
(Dissenting):
I respectfully dissent. The majority properly holds that the appellant was impermissibly convicted of the charges made under 21 U.S.C. § 176a. I have no doubt whatsoever that the jury, or at least some of its members, may have been improperly influenced in its consideration of the appellant’s guilt of the offense charged under 21 U.S.C. § 4742(a), because of the existence of the other two charges and the erroneous and prejudicial instructions given in connection with them.
No judge can avoid the application of his own experience in the resolution of such an issue as that on which I now part from my Brothers. From whatever knowledge I may have gained in my lifetime, including that derived from participation as an advocate in the trial of scores of jury cases, I am thoroughly convinced that Sannicandro’s lawyer would have had a better chance of de-» fending his client on the so-called “tax count” had the other two charges not been before the jury or had the whole trial not been corrupted by the erroneous instructions. Because of my conviction in this respect, and in the interest of justice, I would, if I could, afford Sannicandro a new trial in which the District Court would be concerned only with the question of Sannicandro’s guilt or innocence of the offense charged under 26 U.S.C. § 4742(a).