Clayton

Appellant, with two others, namely Wilma Shirley Doores and Edward William Kelly, was charged with conspiring to extort money and narcotics from a physician by means of the impersonation of a federal officer. The co-defendants, who, in addition to the conspiracy, were charged with the substantive offense of extortion, pleaded guilty on all counts but had not been sentenced at the time appellant was tried on the conspiracy count. The trial resulted in appellant’s conviction. The question on appeal is whether he is entitled to a reversal because of statements made by the United States Attorney, in the course of his closing argument to the jury.

A summary of the evidence is essential to an understanding of the point. Although not married, appellant and Wilma Shirley Doores were and had been for about five years living in an ostensible relationship of husband and wife and together occupied a home in Spokane, Washington. The Doores woman, whom for brevity we shall call Shirley, had been illicitly securing narcotics from a Coeur d’Alene physician. There was evidence that appellant, Shirley, Kelly, and Shirley’s brother “Bunny” Doores, met and devised a plan whereby Kelly, posing as a…