United States v. Duane Ivan Carlson Jerome Nicholas Diemert Mervyn Edward Henderson Ervinjohn White and Milton James Dix

Duane Ivan Carlson, Jerome Nicholas Diemert, Mervyn Edward Henderson, Ervin John White and Milton James Dix were convicted of conspiring to rob banks in a Seattle, Washington suburb in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 2113(a) and (d). Each has appealed, and the appeals were argued together in this court. All the appeals are disposed of in this opinion.

According to the indictment, these five defendants and four others engaged in an alleged conspiracy between August 20, 1967, and January 26, 1968. As part of the conspiracy, the indictment alleges, defendants agreed to rob by force, violence, and intimidation three banks located at Redmond, Washington, and one bank located at Des Moines, Washington.

According to the Government’s evidence, the defendants carried on most of their conspiratorial activity as members or associates of an organization known as the “Minutemen.” The Government’s principal witness, Henry Edward Warren, became associated with that organization in about June, 1965, although he apparently did not become a full member until November, 1966. In about February, 1966, the activities of the Minutemen in the Seattle area began to trouble him, and he wrote to the…