Court Opinion

ID: 9455225
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:15:08.205275+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:30.617652
License: Public Domain

TAMM, Circuit Judge,
(dissenting):
Today two members of this court reach a new height in their creation of near-mythical “rights” of criminal defendants which requires that their convictions be vacated. One Samuel R. Pillow, a resident of the District of Columbia, left the city for a period of nine days. During that time his apartment was burglarized and he lost $700 worth of personal property including a saxophone valued at $175. Subsequently, Mr. Pillow alerted the police department of his loss. The police located the saxophone in a pawn shop in the northwest section of Washington. It was pawned by a person who signed “Wilson Terry” on the pawn ticket *1318and who produced the requisite identification cards. The police then requested the attendants in the store to notify them immediately if the individual who pawned the saxophone returned. Less than one month later the store attendant called the police and notified them that the person who pawned the saxophone was again in the store. The police arrived at the store and placed appellant under arrest. When appellant was searched incident to this arrest the police discovered on his person the other half of the pawn ticket bearing the name “Wilson Terry.” At trial, Wilson Terry testified that he had lost the various identification cards previously mentioned and that he had not signed the pawn ticket. Both attendants at the store positively identified appellant as the person who pawned the saxophone. In addition, a handwriting expert testified that it was his opinion that appellant’s signature matched the signature of Wilson Terry on the pawn ticket. Appellant did not take the stand and offered neither witnesses nor evidence in his behalf. Needless to say, the jury convicted appellant as charged.
On these facts the majority reverses appellant’s conviction and remands for a Luck1-Gordon2 hearing to determine whether the verdict was “substantially swayed by the Luck error.” 3 It is clear from the record that the evidence against appellant is overwhelming and that any Luck error by the trial judge surely must be classified as “harmless” under Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967); accord, Harrington v. California, 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 (1969). Under my reading of the relevant authority in the Luck area, it is-not at all clear that the appellant in this case ever meaningfully invoked the rule, since he proffered absolutely no defense when queried by the trial judge.4 I believe that the court need not reach its ponderous consideration of any Luck problem since even if the trial judge did not conduct a completely proper Luck hearing any error was clearly not prejudicial under both Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(a) and Chapman.
Since appellant refused to take the stand, appellant’s defense was presented to the jury by his counsel in his opening statement:
[I] t is our contention that the defendant did not pawn the saxophone nor . did he enter the house and take it out (Tr. 88).
It is my opinion that the evidence of appellant’s guilt is so overwhelming that whether he took the stand or whether his past convictions were introduced are factors which have a de minimis effect upon the conviction which he now seeks to vacate. After reading thoroughly the majority’s exercise in judicial time-wasting, one must wonder exactly what appellant’s defense will be on the remand. Given this new opportunity, however, perhaps he will be able to explain: (1) if he did not enter the apartment, how he came into possession of the saxophone, and (2) if he did not pawn the saxophone, why he had the other half of the pawn ticket in his possession and why his handwriting matched that on the pawn ticket. The majority might do well to answer these questions for the members of the public who are not well versed in all the technical nuances of the criminal law and who wonder why our *1319trial courts have such backlogs and delays.
Our court dockets are crowded and this court has repeatedly emphasized the necessity and desirability of speedy trials for all defendants. Yet, with this in mind and for reasons more philosophical than legal, the majority' remands this case to the already busy district judge with directions to hold a hearing at which appellant can proffer his “alibi.” I must dissent from this further impediment to the achievement of justice in this case despite my acknowledgment of the submissive fatalism with which bench and bar calmly accept the inevitability of endless delay in the termination of criminal prosecutions. I feel it is essential that appellate courts develop an eye for the forest of reality as a necessary substitute for the prevailing sense of the trees of abstract theory. Since my reading of the record discloses insurmountable evidence of appellant’s guilt and no “error * * * affect[ing] substantial rights”5 of appellant, I would affirm his conviction.

. Luck v. United States, 121 U.S.App.D.C. 151, 348 F.2d 763 (1965).

. Gordon v. United States, 127 U.S.App. D.C. 343, 383 F.2d 936 (1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 1029, 88 S.Ct. 1421, 20 L. Ed.2d 287 (1968).

. Majority opinion at 1317.

. This court has held many times, as the majority must recognize, that the defense counsel must invoke Luck in a meaningful way. Indeed, we stated not long ago that “[i]f Luck made anything clear, it was that the defense is ill-advised to content itself simply with citing Luck.” Hood v. United States, 125 U.S.App.D.C. 16, 18, 365 F.2d 949, 951 (1966). See Jones v. United States, 131 U.S.App.D.C. 216, 404 F.2d 212 (1968) ; Smith v. United States, 132 U.S.App.D.C. 131, 406 F. 2d 667 (1968).

. )red.R.Criin.P. 52(a).