Ned Edward Hett v. United States

Out of a near partnership in crime with a robber named Richard James Young, the defendant-appellant Ned Edward Hett, a young Seattle lawyer, stands convicted of four of five counts of an indictment concerned with Young’s zigzagging flights to avoid capture and prosecutions. Young fled to Brazil, but was returned to the United States, where he became the main witness against Hett.

Late in 1962 and early in 1963, Young was involved in four Washington-Oregon robberies as follows:

1. On December 1, 1962, the robbery of a Kirkland (near Seattle, Washington) grocery store — about $2,600 was taken.

2. On January 24, 1963, a robbery of a branch of the United States National Bank in Portland, Oregon, of approximately $55,000.

3. On March 8,1963, a robbery of the Northgate branch of the Bon Marche Department Store at Seattle of about $40,000.

4. On March 22, 1963, a robbery of a branch of the Seattle-First National Bank of $4,000 to $7,000.

The five counts of the indictment were as follows:

1. That on March 8, 1963, (the evening of the Bon Marche robbery) Hett aided and abetted Young to travel in interstate commerce from Bellevue, Washington, to San Francisco, California, to avoid…