325 F. 2d 226 - Engram v. United States

The appeal is from convictions of appellant of unauthorized use of a vehicle in violation of 22 D.C.Code 2204, and of robbery in violation of 22 D.C.Code 2901. Appellant was tried with a codefendant indicted with him. On crossexamination during the trial before a jury the complaining witness in the robbery charge was asked by defense counsel could she tell the jury which of the 'two persons' took her purse. She replied, 'I could not tell you which of the two took it. I can tell you the one that admitted taking it.' At the bench the judge at the request of appellant's counsel said he would strike the volunteered part of the answer and tell the jury to disregard it.1 The examination then proceeded, and the matter was never referred to in open court. No objection was made to the instructions as given and no further request was addressed to the court regarding the matter, although it should have been clear to defense attorneys that the court had omitted to tell the jury to disregard the statement. The evidence of guilt was strong, including but not limited to identification of appeallant by the complaining witness. Moreover the admission referred to was not attributed to this appeallant. In light of all the circumstances the incident clearly is not of sufficient significance to justify reversal.

Affirmed.