UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, APPELLEE,
v.
ROBERT CHARLES KOCHEL, APPELLANT

4th Cir. | 1969-10-14
No. 13099
416 F.2d 370 United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (1969) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that the trial court did not err in admitting Kochel's oral statement or in its handling of the prosecutor's examination of a witness.


Facts & Procedural History

Robert Charles Kochel was charged with armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting. He was convicted after a bench trial. On appeal, he challenged the …

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM:

PER CURIAM:

Robert Charles Kochel, appellant, was charged in a three-count indictment with violating Title 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), (b), (d), and (f), armed bank robbery, and § 2, aiding and abetting. He was tried before the court without a jury, was convicted on all three counts and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

On appeal Kochel charges violations of his constitutional rights: (1) with respect to the introduction into evidence of an oral statement of Kochel in which he admitted his participation in the robbery of the bank and (2) with respect to the leading examination by the prosecutor of a hostile witness, Martin, an alleged accomplice, contrary to the teachings of Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1965). The trial court found that the oral incriminating statement was “freely, voluntarily and knowingly and intelligently given without any threats, promises, inducements, or improper influence of any kind,” and not as the result of or in response to alleged impermissible interrogation in violation of appellant’s constitutional rights. It is clear that the court was fully cognizant of the decision in Douglas v. Alabama, supra, and that the prosecutor was not permitted to interrogate the alleged accomplice in such manner as to implicate Kochel, directly or inferentially, by either the questions or answers.

Kochel was positively identified by four employees of the bank as one of the two men who perpetrated the robbery. This evidence alone was sufficient to sustain the finding of guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.

Upon consideration of the briefs, the record and oral arguments and perceiving no reversible error, the judgment below will be

Affirmed.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw