History
  • No items yet
midpage
John Doherty v. United States
230 F.2d 605
| 9th Cir. | 1956
|
Check Treatment

230 F.2d 605

John DOHERTY, Appellant,
v.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 14811.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

February 14, 1956.

Alfred J. Hennessy, San Francisco, Cal., for appellant.

Lloyd H. Burke, U. S. Atty., John H. Riordan, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Richard H. Foster, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.

Before HEALY and LEMMON, Circuit Judges, and MATHES, District Judge.

PER CURIAM.

1

This appeal from a judgment of conviction in a narcotics case, 21 U.S.C. § 174, is predicated upon the assumption that the California rule declining to credit testimony of an accomplice, unless corroborated, is applicable in the Federal courts. Cal.Penal Code, § 1111; People v. Dail, 1943, 22 Cal.2d 642, 140 P.2d 828.

2

In the exercise of supervisory authority over rules governing the admissibility of evidence in federal criminal trials, McNabb v. United States, 1943, 318 U.S. 332, 341, 63 S.Ct. 608, 87 L.Ed. 819, the Supreme Court has held that corroboration is not essential. Caminetti v. United States, 1917, 242 U.S. 470, 495, 37 S.Ct. 192, 61 L.Ed. 442; Holmgren v. United States, 1910, 217 U.S. 509, 523-524, 30 S.Ct. 588, 54 L.Ed. 861; cf. Krulewitch v. United States, 1949, 336 U.S. 440, 454, 69 S.Ct. 716, 93 L.Ed. 790.

3

It is settled in this circuit that, while received with caution and weighed with great care, the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice is to be accorded whatever credibility the trier of fact may think it deserves. Catrino v. United States, 9 Cir., 1949, 176 F.2d 884, 889; Todorow v. United States, 9 Cir., 173 F. 2d 439, 444 certiorari denied, 1949, 337 U.S. 925, 69 S.Ct. 1169, 93 L.Ed. 1733.

4

The judgment of the district court is affirmed.

Case Details

Case Name: John Doherty v. United States
Court Name: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Published: Feb 14, 1956
Citation: 230 F.2d 605
Docket Number: 14811_1
Court Abbreviation: 9th Cir.
AI-generated responses must be verified and are not legal advice.
Your Notebook is empty. To add cases, bookmark them from your search, or select Add Cases to extract citations from a PDF or a block of text.