United States v. Gregory W. T. Cox

Appellant, Gregory Waldo Thomas Cox, seeks appellate review of his convictions, following a jury trial held December 5-17, 1979, on three counts of an indictment charging him with possession of unregistered firearms in violation of Title 26, United States Code Section 5861 (d). A prior jury trial held September 25-30, 1979, ended in mistrial.

At the first trial, appellant moved for a mistrial and a dismissal of the indictment claiming that the prosecutor had improperly questioned the appellant concerning his failure to give statements to federal agents. The Honorable Valdemar A. Cordova granted the motion for mistrial but denied the appellant’s motion to dismiss the indictment finding that the prosecutor’s actions were unintentional.

In November of 1979, before the second trial, appellant again moved to dismiss the indictment on double jeopardy grounds. After a hearing, the district court denied this motion finding that the prosecutor had not acted intentionally or with gross negligence.

In January of 1980 defendant was sentenced by the court on account of said convictions to five years imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently. Appellant appeals the judgment of…