United States v. Gregory Lee Harris and Larry Hollins

We are called upon to decide in this case whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying appellants’ motions for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence relating to the mental competency of a key witness against them, or in refusing the requested appointment of a psychiatrist to assist in a further attempt to establish that the witness was significantly incompetent at the time he testified.

Appellants, together with one Larry Lee Ford, were jointly charged in a two-count indictment with conspiring to rob and robbing a bank, aggravated by placing lives in jeopardy by the use of dangerous weapons described as shotguns, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 , and § 2113(a) and (d). After the selection but before the empanelment of the jury, the case of the codefendant Ford was severed from that of the appellants and he became the principal prosecution witness, testifying that all three of them had participated in the bank robbery and had carried sawed-off shotguns. The trial began March 7, 1974, and was concluded a week later. Appellants were convicted and sentenced to prison terms which they are now serving, and their convictions were affirmed on appeal.…