Thomas Mose Little v. United States

Appellant was convicted by a jury of bank robbery involving the assaulting and putting in jeopardy the lives of three bank tellers, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a) and § 2113(d). Appellant raises six questions on appeal: (1) Was appellant’s confession obtained during a period of illegal detention between the time of arrest and appearance for arraignment before a U.S. Commissioner? (2) Must the confession be excluded because counsel had not been appointed for appellant when the confession was given ? (3) Did the trial court err in failing to instruct the jury in the precise terms of the Miranda decision? (4) Was there sufficient evidence to prove that lives were put in jeopardy by the use of a dangerous weapon or that any person was assaulted? (5) Did the trial court err in failing to instruct the jury on the doctrine of lesser but necessarily included offenses? (6) Did the cumulative effect of the entire record deprive appellant of a fair trial?

The record on appeal discloses the following sequence of events. On February 1, 1968, a Bank of America branch in Los Angeles was robbed by two armed gunmen. The license number of the getaway car was traced to appellant’s mother. She…