George Tony Starkovich v. United States

Appellant Starkovich was found guilty and sentenced to fine and imprisonment for refusing to answer a certain question propounded to him as a witness before a subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities of the House of Representatives, in violation of Title 2, U.S.C.A. § 192 This was the same committee hearing at Seattle discussed in our opinion in Jackins v. United States, 9 Cir., 231 F.2d 405 . Starkovich refused to answer the question set out in count 1 of the indictment claiming privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment. Although the trial was by jury, the court ruled that the question of privilege was one for the court, and held the privilege here claimed not available to appellant.

The question was: “How soon after that (referring to the period in which he lived in Bellingham, Washington) was it that you moved to Seattle?” The occasion for the asking of the question came about as follows. During the first two days of the Seattle hearings one Barbara Hartle, a self-confessed former Communist organizer, and a person who had been convicted under the Smith Act, had given testimony naming several persons who, she said, were active members of a…