United States v. Charles Thomas James, Jr.

Appellant was convicted, after jury trial, on three counts charging him with violating 18 U.S.C. § 111 by forcibly assaulting, resisting and opposing three F.B.I. agents while they were engaged in the performance of official duties. The charges arose out of an altercation between members of appellant’s family and four F.B.I. agents on January 4, 1971 when the agents were attempting to apprehend appellant for being absent without leave from the Navy.

Appellant claims error in (1) the refusal of the court to allow his challenge for cause of two prospective jurors; (2) the admission in evidence, over objection, of a rolling pin used by appellant’s sister in the altercation; and (3) the court’s refusal to allow a challenge to the array of the trial jury.

Challenges for Cause

One of the jurors challenged for cause was the sister-in-law of a detective on the police force in Corvallis, Oregon, whom she saw a “couple of times a year.” The other was the wife of a department store security officer in Portland, Oregon. Appellant argues that since the prosecution’s case was based solely on the testimony of F.B.I. agents concerning a crime against the agents, the close relative of any law…