United States v. Hoyt Powell, 611 F.2d 41, 4th Cir. (1979)

611 F.
2d 41
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,

v.
Hoyt POWELL, Appellant.
No. 79-5072.
United States Court of Appeals,

Fourth Circuit.
Argued Oct. 3, 1979.
Decided Nov. 29, 1979.
Dwane H. Miller, Richmond, Va., for appellant.

Eric Wm. Ruschky, Asst. U. S. Atty., Columbia, S. C. (Thomas E. Lydon,
Jr., U. S. Atty., and Thomas P. Simpson, Asst. U. S. Atty., Columbia, S.
C., on brief), for appellee.
Before BUTZNER, RUSSELL and SPROUSE, Circuit Judges.
DONALD RUSSELL, Circuit Judge:
The appellant, along with five other defendants, was indicted for
aggravated bank robbery under 2113(a) and (d) and 2 (aiding and
abetting), 18 U.S.C. All six defendants were properly arraigned and pled
not guilty. Later all defendants again appeared at a hearing on pretrial
motions. At this time, in the presence of all defendants including the
appellant, a trial date was fixed. Between that date and the trial date, as
fixed, the appellant was given permission to leave the district to gather
evidence preparatory to trial. The appellant did not, however, appear on
the date fixed for the trial. All other defendants were present, ready for
trial, as well as numerous witnesses both for the Government and for the
defense, some from within the State and others without. It was the
Government's theory that all the defendants were members of a wellknown bank robbery group, which followed a plan of operations in a
number of states. In the absence of the appellant, his counsel moved for a
continuance, offering in support the testimony of appellant's wife, who
testified that the appellant had gone to Alabama and North Carolina to
gather evidence. The motion was overruled and the appellant was tried In
absentia. The trial lasted two weeks, resulting in the conviction of the
appellant on two counts of the indictment. In developing its case, the
Government used some forty witnesses, and the defense used thirty
witnesses. During the trial the appellant, however, remained a fugitive. He
was finally apprehended two years later in Texas. Upon his return to the
jurisdiction he offered no excuse for his absence from the trial. He was
then sentenced to ten years imprisonment on one count and six years on
another count, to be served consecutively, which, incidentally, was the
same sentence as that imposed on two of his co-defendants who had been
present at trial. He has now appealed, contending the district court erred in
proceeding with his trial in his absence. We affirm.
The defendant concedes that United States v. Peterson (4th Cir. 1975) 524
F.2d 167, cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1088, 96 S.Ct. 881, 47 L.Ed.2d 99
(1976), if still a correct expression of the application of Rule 43, Federal
Rules of Criminal Procedure, is dispositive of his claim of error. It is his
argument, though, that Peterson has been rendered obsolete by the 1975
amendments to Rule 43. We do not agree. Rule 43(a) incorporates the
identical language of the previous Rule, with one addition. That was the
provision of the Rule on which the district court relied for its ruling. This
provision includes at its end the words "except as otherwise provided by
this rule." The rulemakers then added subdivisions (b) and (c) to the
revised Rule. In subdivision (b), the Rule states that a defendant waives
"his right to be present whenever a defendant, initially present, (1)
voluntarily absents himself . . . or (2) after being warned by the court . . .
persists in (disruptive) conduct . . . ." The defendant would find in the
words, "initially present," in 43(b) what he regards as a clear intention to
eliminate any right of the trial judge, as previously exercised under the
earlier version of Rule 43, and as exercised by the district court under
revised Rule 43(a) in this case, to begin a trial in the absence of the
defendant; in effect it posits that the use of these words in 43(b) restricted
the right under 43(a) to proceed with the trial in the absence of the
defendant strictly to a period after the commencement of trial.
This argument of the defendant, however, finds no support in the history
and exposition of the revised Rule as set forth in the Advisory Committee
Notes. The purpose of the revision, as set forth in the Advisory
Committee Notes was "designed to reflect Illinois v. Allen, 397 U.S. 337,
90 S.Ct. 1057, 25 L.Ed.2d 353 (1970)," any other changes in the Rule
being merely "editorial in nature." Illinois v. Allen was concerned with the
power of a trial court to deal with a defendant present at his trial, who
became disruptive during trial.1 But the Court did not suggest that a trial
court would be without power to proceed with a trial if the defendant
purposefully absented himself under the circumstances present in this case

and in Peterson. This was made plain by Justice Brennan in his concurring
opinion (397 U.S. at 348-49, 90 S.Ct. at 1063):
The constitutional right of an accused to be present at his trial must be

considered in this context. Thus there can be no doubt whatever that the
governmental prerogative to proceed with a trial may not be defeated by
conduct of the accused that prevents the trial from going forward, citing Diaz v.
United States (1912) 223 U.S. 442, 457-58 (, 32 S.Ct. 250, 56 L.Ed. 500).
If the revision in the Rule were intended merely to reflect the holding in Allen
and if such additions as made to the Rule were purely "editorial in nature," it is
impossible to read into the revision an intention to invalidate the application of
the Rule as was adopted by this court in Peterson and by other courts in similar
cases.2 Had such been the rulemakers' intention it is fair to assume they would
have spelt out expressly such intention. Because we think the drafters of the
revision had no such intention, we adhere to our rule as enunciated in Peterson,
as a proper expression of the trial court's authority under Rule 43(a), as
incorporated in the 1975 revision. The judgment of conviction is accordingly
AFFIRMED.
Justice Black stated at the outset of the opinion the issue (397 U.S. at 338, 90
S.Ct. at 1058):
The question presented in this case is whether an accused can claim the benefit
of this constitutional right to remain in the courtroom while at the same time he
engages in speech and conduct which is so noisy, disorderly, and disruptive
that it is exceedingly difficult or wholly impossible to carry on the trial.
See United States v. Pastor (2d Cir. 1977) 557 F.2d 930, 933, where all the
federal cases at the time of that decision are listed. It is significant that this case
was subsequent to the 1975 revision in the Rule. By implication at least, the
court in that case found no intention in the revised Rule to alter the construction
placed on the Rule by Peterson and like cases
In United States v. Benavides (5th Cir. 1979) 596 F.2d 137, 139, the power of
the trial court to proceed with the trial where a defendant voluntarily absents
himself in circumstances such as those in Peterson and here was clearly
recognized, but the court found that the circumstances in that case were not
sufficient to support the action, since a multiple prosecution, with a large

number of witnesses, was not involved.
An exhaustive opinion by a state court, in which all the federal and state
decisions are carefully canvassed, from a constitutional standpoint, is State v.
LaBelle (1977) 18 Wash.App. 380, 568 P.2d 808. After reviewing the
decisions, the court concludes with this statement of the rule as required by
constitutional standards (568 P.2d at 818):
We hold that when a criminal defendant is present at arraignment, enters a plea,
receives actual notice of the time, date and place of the trial, deliberately
absconds without a compelling reason, is represented by counsel at trial, and
never offers a satisfactory explanation for his absence, a trial court may find
such actions on the part of a defendant to amount to a knowing and voluntary
waiver of his right to be present and may conduct the trial in his absence. Such
an action by the trial court will not be a material departure from the spirit of the
right, for the protection afforded the accused in the right to confrontation need
not be adhered to blindly regardless of the cost to society. Illinois v. Allen,
supra, 397 U.S. at 349, 90 S.Ct. 1057. One cannot indiscriminately obstruct the
course of justice and then rely on constitutional safeguards to shield him from
the legitimate consequences of his own wrongful act. Illinois v. Allen, supra, at
345-46, 350, 90 S.Ct. 1057; Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 158, 25
L.Ed. 244, 247 (1878); Falk v. United States, 15 App.D.C. 446, 460-61 (1899),
Appeal dismissed, 180 U.S. 636, 21 S.Ct. 922, 45 L.Ed. 709 (1901).

United States v. Hoyt Powell, 611 F.2d 41, 4th Cir. (1979)

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611 F.

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,

United States Court of Appeals,

Dwane H. Miller, Richmond, Va., for appellant.

purposefully absented himself under the circumstances present in this case

The constitutional right of an accused to be present at his trial must be

sufficient to support the action, since a multiple prosecution, with a large

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