Sammy Louis Haynes v. United States

On June 4, 1968, Sammy Louis Haynes and two codefendants were found guilty of bank robbery with a dangerous weapon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a) (d) (1964). Haynes has appealed to this Court, alleging five separate grounds: insufficient evidence, prejudicial misjoinder, unlawful search and seizure, admission of improper evidence of “sudden wealth”, and misconduct of the prosecutor during final argument.

We have examined the record with care and find no merit in appellant’s first four allegations of error. The issue of prosecutorial misconduct, however, requires brief discussion.

In his final argument at trial, the attorney for the Government stated that appellant had admitted while on the witness stand that he had previously been convicted of possession of heroin. This statement was not true as appellant’s prior conviction involved not heroin but marijuana. Haynes contends that the possession of heroin is a more serious offense than the possession of marijuana, and that the government’s case against him generally was weak. Considering these two factors together, he argues, the prosecutor’s misstatement to the jury was so prejudicial as to require reversal of the…