Woodrow W Cape v. United States

This is an appeal by Woodrow W. Cape from a judgment of conviction under the Hobbs Anti-Racketeering Act, 18 U.S. C.A. § 1951. The indictment was in two counts: the first charged appellant with extorting $1,000 from A. J. Curtis and Ben Mapes, agents of certain corporations engaged in pipeline construction in interstate commerce; the second charged him with extortion by attempting to obtain an automobile from A. J. Curtis; both counts alleged that appellant accomplished the extortion with consent of the victims “ * * * by wrongful use of actual and threatened force, violence, and fear * * The jury acquitted Cape of the second count, but found him guilty of the first; he was sentenced to one year imprisonment. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 1291 and 1294.

There are two primary grounds for reversal urged on this appeal: (1) that the District Court erred by refusing to grant the appellant’s timely motions for judgment of acquittal when the evidence was and is insufficient to support a verdict of guilty, and (2) that the court committed prejudicial error by admitting in evidence a tape recording of a conversation between appellant and A. J. Curtis when portions of it were…