Richard E. Loux and Neil Conrad Wallen v. United States of America, Vertis James Barrett, Arthur St. Peter Andharold Oscar Thomas v. United States

In these cases there are five appeals, arising from the convictions of the five appellants under a single indictment reading as follows:

Barrett, Loux and Wallen went to trial before a jury at Yakima, Washington on March 7, 1966. On March 9, a mistrial was ordered as to Barrett only. The trial continued as to Loux and Wallen and they were convicted and they appeal. Barrett, Thomas and St. Peter were tried before a jury at Spokane, Washington beginning on September 12, 1966. All three were convicted and they appeal.

The offense itself can be described very briefly. During the night of November 22, 1964, seven convicts, the defendants named in the indictment, escaped from the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla, Washington. They kidnapped an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jeppe, seized their car, and, taking the Jeppes along, went to Oregon. Eventually, the Jeppe’s car became mired in mud. The defendants abandoned the Jeppes unharmed and left in another car that they had stolen.

We consider first a problem common to all appeals, then those raised by Loux or Wallen and arising from the Yakima trial, and finally, those raised by Barrett, St. Peter, or Thomas, and arising…