United States v. Don C. Silverthorne

Appellant appeals from a second trial and conviction of various alleged violations of federal statutes proscribing the wilful misapplication of bank funds, the wilful making of false entries in bank records, and conspiracy to misapply bank funds, 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 , 656 and 1005. In the first Silverthorne appeal ( 400 F.2d 627 (9th Cir. 1968)), we reversed generally similar convictions against the appellant for the purpose of dispelling “the probability of prejudice accruing from the pretrial publicity and the jury panel members’ knowledge of the case.” Id. at 638 .

We remanded with directions for a new trial. This was completed in July of 1969. During the trial, the Court ordered one count dismissed and the defendant was acquitted by the jury on two more counts, and convicted of eight counts. Appellant contends that this second trial was infected with numerous prejudicial errors. For reasons we set forth in more detail, post, we disagree, and we affirm the jury convictions on all counts. As in the first Silverthorne case, our jurisdiction rests upon 28 U. S.C. § 1291.

A. Factual Background

The facts of the case are set forth briefly in the previous opinion and in detail in the…