Court Opinion

ID: 9450465
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 16:48:55.084874+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:20.318245
License: Public Domain

BIGGS, Chief Judge
(concurring).
As set out in the majority opinion there was no recording verbatim by shorthand or by mechanical means of the voir dire examination though a court reporter was in court while that examination was conducted. There was, therefore, no compliance with Section 753(b), Title 28 U.S.C. Had this failure been raised on appeal I would feel compelled to dissent as in the case of United States v. Sigal, 341 F.2d 837 (3 Cir.1965), the opinions in which are filed concurrently with the opinions in this case, but the failure of the court reporter to record the proceedings at bar does not seem to me to rise to the dignity of a constitutional issue at least under the circumstances of the ease at bar.
I am disturbed by the fact that the trial judge left the bench during the course of the peremptory challenges but no prejudice to the defendant could have resulted therefrom and if for a few moments jurisdiction of the cause was lost for this reason it seems to have been regained when the judge resumed his rightful position. I cannot deem the judge’s temporary absence to be of sufficient importance to warrant a new trial.