United States v. Allen Gordon Sims

On January 1, 1972, defendant Sims and a woman identified as Ida Patrice Robinson who remains a fugitive hijacked PSA Flight 902 between Sacramento and Los Angeles. Approximately one hour after the hijacking began, the passengers were released in Los Angeles. The plane with its full crew and four other stewardesses who happened to be on the flight flew first to Tampa, Florida, and then to Havana, Cuba, under the direction of the hijackers. In Havana, the hijackers surrendered to Cuban authorities, and Flight 902 returned to the United States. Sims and Robinson were indicted for air piracy under 49 U.S.C. § 1472 (i)(l) on August 2, 1972. Almost seven years after the hijacking, on December 21, 1978, Sims was arrested in Jamaica and returned to the Central District of California for trial.

On February 27, 1979, Sims was found guilty after a one-day jury trial. He appeals from that conviction, contending that the district court erred in refusing to issue certain out-of-district subpoenas, in denying discovery motions, and in denying a motion for continuance of the trial. We reverse.

OUT-OF-DISTRICT SUBPOENAS

Sims appeals from the denial of his timely application for out-of-district…