Charles E. Falk and Max G. Wendell v. United States

Appellants were defendants below. After a court trial, defendant Falk was convicted of one count of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, and defendant Wendell was convicted of one count of perjury. Both appealed, contending that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction. The charges arose out of defendants’ conduct in the trial of a bank robbery charge against Falk in which he had been acquitted by verdict of the jury.

Under Count VI of the Indictment, Wendell was convicted of perjury in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1621 . The substance of Wendell’s testimony was that in August, 1963, Patterson and Helpman came to his house in Patterson’s Chrysler to pick up a Plymouth which Patterson had previously left for a battery charge; that he saw Helpman in Patterson's car, and that Patterson drove the old Plymouth away. The Government’s contention is that Wendell was substituting Help-man for Falk in the events related.

The prosecution produced testimony of Patterson, Helpman and one Ballard (who was in jail with Wendell). Patterson testified that prior to the robbery, he left a Plymouth at Wendell’s for a battery charge; that on the day of the robbery, he went back…