Professional Documents
Culture Documents
United States v. Clarence Smith, A/K/A "Texas Shorty,", 521 F.2d 374, 10th Cir. (1975)
United States v. Clarence Smith, A/K/A "Texas Shorty,", 521 F.2d 374, 10th Cir. (1975)
2d 374
The defendant, Clarence Smith, was indicted and tried for the first degree
murder of a fellow inmate in the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and defendant
appeals.
Appellant's first argument is that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing
evidence of his prior convictions to be admitted. Prior to the start of the trial,
the trial court heard appellant's motion for a protective order to prevent the
Government from cross-examining him about his prior criminal record. This
record included convictions of armed robbery, burglary, and forgery, the latter
being the record for his incarceration at Leavenworth. The motion was directed
to the convictions of robbery and burglary on the theory they did not pertain to
credibility and therefore are beyond the permissible scope of cross-examination
for impeachment purposes. The motion was denied, and appellant revealed
each of his prior convictions on direct examination.
In United States v. Williams, 445 F.2d 421 (10th Cir.), coappellant Johnson had
Appellant relies on Luck v. United States, 121 U.S.App.D.C. 151, 348 F.2d
763, for the proposition that in exercising its discretionary power, the trial court
must hold a hearing to determine whether the prejudice resulting from the use
of prior convictions outweighs their probative value. A pretrial hearing was
held on the motion in the case before us, and appellant's argument therefore
appears to challenge the adequacy of that hearing. We do not read Luck or any
other case as requiring a hearing as to the admissibility of prior convictions for
impeachment purposes. Luck involved the District of Columbia's statutory prior
conviction rule and while it is obviously distinguishable in that it involved a
statutory prior conviction rule, none of its reasoning requires a hearing in the
exercise of the court's discretionary power.
The hearing in the case before us was occasioned by appellant's pretrial motion
for a protective order, and we find no abuse of discretion in its denial. The
indictment charged murder within a penitentiary. The defendant, the victim,
and the eye witness were all inmates incarcerated on prior convictions. It was
of practical necessity, therefore, that on voir dire of the jury panel and before
the motion hearing, defendant's counsel examined the panel with regard to
defendant's obvious status as a convict. During the trial, defendant freely crossexamined the Government's eye witness about his prior convictions. After
defendant took the stand, he called the prison records officer for the purpose of
showing the victim's convictions. He then called seven inmates, some of whom
testified about violence in general at the penitentiary, most of whom testified
about the violent reputation of the victim, and all of whom were questioned on
direct or cross-examination about their own convictions. Viewing this record as
a whole, we cannot see that the trial court abused its discretion or the defendant
was unduly prejudiced by either denial of the pretrial motion or subsequent
introduction of his prior convictions.
8
Appellant's third argument concerns the trial court's refusal to instruct on the
lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter. The theory of appellant's
case was self-defense, and the trial court properly instructed the jury that such a
defense is a complete defense. The crime of involuntary manslaughter is
inconsistent with the theory of self-defense.
10
Appellant's fourth argument concerns denial of his motion for new trial on the
ground that he was under the influence of drugs during trial and therefore
incapable of assisting in his own defense.
11
It was while the jury was deliberating that appellant first advised his counsel he
had been under the influence of drugs throughout the trial. An evidentiary
hearing on his motion revealed appellant had requested and received a
prescription of ten milligrams of Valium to be given three times per day.
Medical testimony showed Valium to be a mild tranquilizer having possible but
The test of competency to stand trial is "whether (the defendant) has sufficient
present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational
understanding and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of
the proceedings against him." Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 80 S.Ct.
788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824; Arnold v. United States,432 F.2d 871 (10th Cir.). This test
raises issues of fact as to which the defendant has the burden of proof. Johnston
v. United States, 292 F.2d 51 (10th Cir.). Ignoring the self-administered aspect
of the matter, the record does not show, and we have no reason to believe, that
appellant's use of Valium per se rendered him incompetent to stand trial. United
States v. Tom, 340 F.2d 127 (2d Cir.). On the other hand, the record does show
that appellant appeared to both the trial court and his own counsel to
understand the proceedings and communicate rationally with counsel. We
conclude there is adequate evidentiary support for the trial court's conclusion
that appellant failed to sustain his burden of proving his incompetency.
13
Appellant's final argument is that he was denied trial by a jury of his peers.
Before voir dire commenced, appellant, a Black, objected to the fact there were
no Blacks on the jury panel. In making the objection he conceded he knew of
nothing unlawful in the selection of the panel. His argument is that the result
speaks for itself and constitutes a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination.
14
We find no case in which such a broad and unspecified objection has been held
to constitute a prima facie case. As we recently stated in Leggroan v. Smith,
498 F.2d 168 (10th Cir.), a claim of discriminatory selection of jurors
"necessarily requires a showing that a recognizable, identifiable class of
persons, otherwise entitled to be jury members, has been purposefully and
systematically excluded from jury service." While the actual result of exclusion
may by inference contribute to a showing of such system or purpose, result
alone is insufficient to establish a prima facie case shifting the burden of proof
to the Government. Appellant's argument that the summary overruling of his
objection prevented him from developing facts which would support his claim
of discriminatory selection is equally without merit. Not only is the argument
an admission that at the time he knew of no such facts, but also it ignores the
statutory procedure available for challenging the selection process, 28 U.S.C.
1867.
15
Affirmed.