Cobert

On January 8, 1964, the United States of America, plaintiff, filed an indictment against Frank Cobert, defendant. The indictment alleges that on or about February 28, 1963, within the Southern District of California, defendant took an oath before the Grand Jury which was duly impaneled, and sitting in the said District, and was inquiring into an unspecified matter then before it. It is then alleged that the defendant swore that he would testify truly, and that contrary to that oath he stated “material matter” which he did not believe to be true in that he testified as follows:

The testimony is alleged to be false because the defendant then knew that Hy Kamin was a listing post at the pay telephone at the Derby Turf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada; that Kamin was accepting wagers and turning them over to the defendant; and that Kamin and defendant had discussed “layoffs” of wagers. All of this was said to be in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1621 , which reads as follows:

On March 3, 1964, defendant made a motion to dismiss the indictment for failure to comply with the requirement that it be a “plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense…