United States v. Bruce Warren Hobson, United States of America v. Morton Newman

Defendants Bruce Hobson and Morton Newman appeal from the judgments of conviction, following a jury trial, of harboring a prison escapee and fugitive from justice, being accessories after the fact, and conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1072 , 3, and 371 respectively. They allege numerous errors in their joint, six-week trial — errors pertaining to each individually and errors common to both. We affirm.

FACTS

The facts of this case concern the six-week period subsequent to the highly publicized October 6, 1972, “liberation” of Ronald W. Beaty from the California Institute for Men at Chino. Beaty had been serving federal time at the State facility pursuant to an Arizona federal district court twenty-year sentence for interstate transportation of kidnapped persons. While serving this sentence, Beaty joined a revoluntionary group called Venceremos and an escape plan was devised by Beaty and defendant Hobson’s mother (Jean Hobson), a member of the Venceremos Central Committee. Pursuant to this plan, Beaty was freed at gun point from a California State vehicle while enroute to San Ber-nardino County Superior Court for pretrial proceedings concerning his escape from…