Lewis v. United States, 279 U.S. 63 (1929)

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Lewis v. United States

No. 182

Argued December 3, 4, 1928
Decided March 5, 1929
279 U.S. 63

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. An offense committed within the territorial limits of the Eastern District of Oklahoma, as then existing, was indictable and triable in the court of that district after the county where the offense was committed had been transferred by the Act of February 16, 1925 (amending Jud.Code, § 101), to the new Northern District, this jurisdiction having been reserved by the terms of the Act and of Jud.Code, § 59. P. 70.

2. The court of the Eastern District, as it is since the transfer of territory, is the same court as before, and whether exercising its jurisdiction over its restricted district or over transferred parts of the former district, sits as one and the same tribunal. P. 71.

3. Consistently with the Sixth Amendment, a person who committed an offense in a part of a judicial district which was subsequently transferred to another district may be indicted an tried in the court of the diminished district exercising jurisdiction pro hac vice over its original territory, and the jurors, both grand and petit, may be drawn exclusively from the diminished district. Jud.Code, § 277. P. 72.

4. Approval by the district judge of the removal of all names from certain counties from the jury box may be inferred from his action in ordering a petit jury to be drawn from it after his attention had been called to such removal. P. 72.

5. If a written direction from the judge be essential, under Jud.Code, § 277, to a valid drawing of jurors from part of the district only, it may be presumed to have been given in the absence of a showing to the contrary. P. 73.

22 F.2d 760, 26 F.2d 465, affirmed.

Certiorari, 278 U.S. 587, to a judgment of the circuit court of appeals affirming a conviction for violations of the national banking laws.