United States v. William Derrace Ballard

William Ballard, appellant herein, was convicted in a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California for the violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a) (robbery of an insured savings and loan association). This court has jurisdiction of his timely appeal by virtue of 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

Appellant makes the following contentions upon appeal: (1) The defendant was denied the “effective and substantial” aid of counsel in connection with his efforts to secure reduction in bail. (2) The court’s instruction on the effect of the defendant’s failure to take the stand was a violation of the defendant’s rights under the Fifth Amendment. (3) The government failed to establish that the alleged robbery is a federal crime. (4) The unfair suggestiveness of a pretrial identification procedure served to deny the defendant his rights under the Constitution. We shall consider appellant’s contentions in the order made.

After his indictment the appellant appeared before the court by reason of a letter that he had written to Martin Haley, Esq., his court appointed counsel, requesting that he withdraw and asking that new counsel be appointed. While in court the appellant…