J. Leslie Asher, Jr., and William R. Elmenhorst v. United States

These are appeals, in forma pauperis, from convictions of the appellants, after a jury trial, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The crime for which each appellant was convicted was the violation of § 2118(a) of Title 18, United States Code, which section defines, inter alia, robbery of a bank by intimidation, and § 2 of Title 18, United States Code, aiding and abetting one Paré in the robbery of a bank.

Evidence was received at the trial of the appellants which supports the following narrative of pertinent events. At about 4:30 in the morning of September 20, 1966, the appellant Elmenhorst, a cab driver, picked up Alan Paré, a 21 year old man, in the North Beach area of San Francisco. The two were well acquainted, having lived together previously. Paré told Elmenhorst that he was desperate for money at the time. Elmen-horst said that they could pull an armed robbery of a bank at 4th and Brannan Streets. They were at that time driving around the block in which that bank was located. Elmenhorst explained the layout of the bank to Paré, and said it would be an easy one to rob. Paré, said that the bank was “federal” and he did not want to…