United States v. Kevin Darrell McQuin Eddie Jerome Johnson

Appellants were convicted, after jury trial, of conspiracy to rob a bank ( 18 U.S.C. § 371 ) and attempted bank robbery ( 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a)), and sentenced under the Youth Corrections Act. The evidence as to both counts was overwhelming, but they claim that there was outrageous government misconduct which precluded their prosecution and now compels reversal of their convictions.

Appellants, complete with masks and guns, were arrested as they approached a branch of the Crocker National Bank in Pasadena. It is admitted that they were on their way to rob the bank, pursuant to plans developed by appellant McQuin. The arrests were the result of activity by an F.B.I. informant (a man named Canale) and an undercover agent (Special Agent Taul-bee). It was McQuin’s testimony at the trial that, although he had participated in the plans for the bank robbery, he had had second thoughts about proceeding with the actual robbery and did so only because of his fear of Taulbee, due to threats purportedly repeated to him by Canale.

The jury obviously chose to reject McQuin’s story. But as government misconduct has been put into issue, we shall discuss the evidence as it was presented, despite…