Charles E. Smith v. United States

Charles E. Smith was indicted with James Burton Ing and Raymond Wright, together with several others, on twenty counts charging the uttering and publishing of forged checks in violation of § 65-6-1, A.C.L.A.1949. Smith was named with Ing and Wright in the first counts of the indictment. These three defendants stood trial. Ing was found *418 guilty on all counts of the indictment, Wright on all except five counts, and Smith on four of the five counts in which he was joined. It must be premised at the outset that there was overwhelming testimony in the evidence to sustain the verdict as to Smith exclusive of any alleged confessions or admissions.

Smith contends that the conviction was illegal because of various matters which happened prior to trial. It is claimed that these errors were perpetuated by rulings at the trial. The errors alleged stem generally from a confession which was taken in Seattle before the arraignment of Smith. The trial court ruled out this confession, but there is the claim that error was committed in refusing to permit Smith to inspect the confession before its attempted introduction into evidence. Further, error is predicated upon the fact that the trial…

(concurring) .

While I agree with the majority opinion that the judgment of conviction must be reversed for the reasons stated in the opinion, I do not share the views expressed regarding the admission in evidence of the testimony of the member of the Alaskan Territorial Police, who was permitted to testify to much of the substance of the matters contained in the signed confession made by the appellant at Seattle, which confession the trial court excluded because taken in violation of the provisions of Rule 5(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.A. Prior to the admission of this testimony, appellant objected to its receipt in evidence and requested the district court to conduct a hearing out of the presence of .the jury in order to determine preliminarily whether such officer’s testimony was the fruit of the violation of the rights of appellant as set forth in Rule 5(a). The district court overruled the objection and denied the request. In my opinion, many of the facts set forth in the majority opinion tend to support my view that the district court should have acceded to appellant’s request. It is conceivable that after such a hearing, at which the appellant…

268 F.2d 416 Charles E. SMITH, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. No. 16041. United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit. April 23, 1959. Buell A. Nesbett, Anchorage, Alaska, for appellant. William T. Plummer, U.S. Atty., George T. Boney, Asst. U.S. Atty., Anchorage, Alaska, for appellee. Before FEE, CHAMBERS and JERTBERG, Circuit Judges. JAMES ALGER FEE, Circuit Judge. 1 Charles E. Smith was indicted with James Burton Ing and Raymond Wright, together with several others, on twenty counts charging the uttering and publishing of forged checks in violation of 65-6-1, A.C.L.A.1949. Smith was named with Ing and Wright in the first counts of the indictment. These three defendants stood trial. Ing was found guilty on all counts of the indictment, Wright on all except five counts, and Smith on four of the five counts in which he was joined. It must be premised at the outset that there was overwhelming testimony in the evidence to sustain the verdict as to Smith exclusive of any alleged confessions or admissions. 2 Smith contends that the conviction was illegal because of various matters which happened prior to trial. It is claimed that these errors were perpetuated by…