Jerome Benson v. United States

Benson appeals from a judgment of conviction of violation of 21 U.S.C. § 174 . The trial was to a jury. On this appeal, he makes two claims: 1) that delay from the day the offense was committed to the day of his arrest deprived him of due process, contrary to the Fifth Amendment, and of his right to speedy trial, contrary to the Sixth Amendment, and 2) that the receipt in evidence of a prior statement of a witness, and the failure of the court to give a limiting instruction, was fatal error. We reject the first claim and sustain the second.

Benson was accused of selling heroin to a federal narcotics agent, one William Turnbou, on October 5, 1965. No complaint was filed, however, until March 3, 1966, some five months later. On March 7, 1966, a warrant for arrest was issued. Benson was not arrested until January 13, 1967, some 15 months after the offense. He was indicted on January 20, 1967, and tried on April 27, 1967. He had retained counsel. No motion to dismiss was made under Rule 48(b), F.R.Crim.P. Indeed, no such claim relating to delay as is now made was asserted before the trial court at any time or in any manner.

The record contains almost no information as to the reasons…