[DOWNLOAD] "John L. Battaglia v. United States America" by United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: John L. Battaglia v. United States America
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Release Date : January 21, 1968
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 63 KB
Description
ELY, Circuit Judge: Appellant Battaglia is a federal prisoner who was convicted on August 19, 1964, for having violated 18 U.S.C. § 1343. He was convicted on six counts of the indictment under which he was charged, and the convictions on two of the counts were affirmed by this court. Battaglia v. United States, 349 F.2d 556 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 955, 86 S. Ct. 430, 15 L. Ed. 2d 360 (1965). Thereafter, on July 15, 1966, Battaglia filed a motion, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, to set aside and vacate his conviction. A number of contentions were advanced in the motion, but only two of them require our attention at this time. These two allegations are (1) that in the original criminal proceedings Battaglia was not adequately represented by competent counsel and (2) that he was not mentally competent, during all stages of the criminal proceedings, to understand the nature of the proceedings and to cooperate with his counsel. In support of his motion, Battaglia filed his own affidavit, the affidavits of a pharmacist and of two medical doctors, and the affidavit of Harold A. Abeles, who was Battaglia's attorney throughout all of the original trial, except for the first day thereof. The pharmacist averred that in the months of June, July, and August 1964, during which period the appellant was originally tried, Battaglia presented to him different prescriptions calling for drugs specified as Nembutal, Seconal, Scopalamine, Dexamil, and Darvon. One of the physicians averred that from June 15, 1964, through August 15, 1964, he prescribed for Battaglia ""quanities [ sic ] of Nembutal, Seconal, Darvon, Dextro Amphetamines, etc."" The other physician averred that appellant suffers from ""Portal Cirrhosis with Hepatic Insufficiency"" and that ""there are times when Mr. Battaglia has definite impairment of his judgment and memory, and when his thinking becomes confused and his speech slurred. He is subject to periods of somnolence approaching coma."" In his own affidavit, Battaglia alleged generally that because of his illness, he consumed large quantities of drugs throughout the course of his trial and was unable fully to communicate with his counsel, although he did communicate the request, rejected by his counsel, that he be permitted to testify in his own behalf. The affidavit of Abeles is set forth in the margin. 1 Its principal thrust is that Battaglia appeared to his lawyer to be ""a very ill man"" during the trial and that because of this ""apparent mental and physical condition"" the attorney could not permit Battaglia ""to testify in his own defense.""