Redman

In May, 1934, Henry J. Sullivan was placed on trial in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona upon an indictment charging him with the willful attempt to defeat and evade his income tax due the United States, and appellant was one of the panel of jurors summoned to attend. On the 15th of that month the trial began and appellant was called in the jury box for examination on the voir dire and was accepted as one of the jurors in the case. The examination of appellant, as far as the same relates to the charge here, was conducted by the judge and the assistant United States attorney. He has been adjudged guilty of criminal contempt in obstructing justice in that, it is claimed, he gave false answers in response to questions affecting his qualifications as a juror. The basis for the charge of contempt is found in the information filed by the United States attorney, wherein it is stated that appellant gave false answers to two questions propounded to him by the court and the assistant United States attorney touching his qualifications to serve as a trial juror. The question propounded by the court to all the jurors, to which appellant made no answer, was: “Let me…

(concurring).

I concur in the opinion of Judge CAVANAH. I assume that there was no intention in the opinion to extend the principles established in Clark v. United States, 289 U. S. 1 , 53 S. Ct. 465 , 77 L. Ed. 993 , as to the right to punish jurors for contempt.

One charge against the appellant was that he had answered affirmatively, and falsely, the question, “Do you believe that you could go into the jury box and consider the evidence and render a fair and impartial verdict on the evidence?” In support of this allegation a juryman was called who testified that the appellant during the deliberations of the jury made a statement to the effect that a corporation with which he was connected had been fined $125 for some oversight m its income tax return. With reference thereto the appellant testified as follows:

The best evidence that could be adduced in favor of the truth of the answer of the juror to the effect that in his opinion he could render a fair and impartial verdict notwithstanding this incident was the fact he had entirely forgotten it, for if he had entertained bitterness or hatred toward the government because of the fine of $125 it would be because he had not…