Robert Lee Gawne v. United States of America, William Thomas Banks v. United States

Robert Gawne and William Banks appeal their convictions of violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1201(a) (2) (Federal Kidnaping Act) and 2312 (Dyer Act), and of 15 U.S.C. § 902 (e) (Federal Firearms Act) (now 18 U.S.C. § 922 (e)). We affirm.

I

Appellants moved before trial to transfer the proceedings from Reno to Las Vegas in the District of Nevada on the ground that because of local pretrial newspaper and television publicity, prejudice against them in the Reno area was so great that they could not obtain a fair trial. The district court denied the motion without prejudice to renewal after the selection of the jury. The motion was renewed at that time, and again denied. Appellants contend that denial was error.

Appellants urge that the pretrial publicity may have denied them a fair and impartial jury. It is our duty to make an independent determination whether this was so, based upon our own evaluation of the totality of circumstances disclosed by the record. Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 362 , 86 S.Ct. 1507 , 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966); United States ex rel. Bloeth v. Denno, 313 F.2d 364, 372 (2d Cir. 1963) (en banc).

The pretrial publicity reflected in the record consists of eleven…