Edward Howard Chandler and Henry May v. United States

Edward Howard Chandler and Henry May appeal from their convictions, after a joint jury trial, for escape from a penal institution in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 751 (1964).

Chandler and May were prisoners at a minimum security federal prison camp located on Route 366, eight miles southeast of Safford, Arizona. A bed check made by prison personnel at 1:15 a.m. on August 27, 1966, did not reveal that any prisoners were missing. However, during another bed cheek made at 2:45 a.m. that morning, a correctional officer discovered that Chandler and May were missing.

At approximately 11:50 p.m. that day, on highway U.S. 70, ten miles east of Safford, Arizona, Highway Patrolman Kenneth F. Chlarson stopped a dump truck heading east, because one of its headlights was out. He found Chandler and May in the truck and arrested them. The officer also found in the truck two blankets, two jackets and a sleeping bag. It was later discovered that the blankets, bedroll and one jacket had been taken from Hugh Hammond’s quonset hut, located three and a half miles north of the prison camp. It was also later ascertained that the dump truck was owned by W. A. Morris, and had disappeared from Morris’…