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0-19 (Rev. 10-29-57) C . “pce 3 Tolson e- Boardma oy oty Belmont | ' Four-to Fou rn . gr <The four-tofour decisibn of Yhe Supreme Court : fn thé Alfonse Bartkus case leaves the law. in ~regard to conflicting decisions by Federal and | state juries im a state confusion. The effect of the even split in the-Stiipreme Court is to up- hold the rulings of the Iitols courts sustaining the conviction of Bartkus for bank robbery even | though a Federal jury had acquitted him of “ charges growing out of the same crime. But the question whether a state conviction after a Fed- eral acquittal amounts to placing the defend- ant in double jeopardy thus remains even more controversial than it was before. Fortunately, the Court will have another go at the problem, for it has agreed to review a similar case involving a Federal conviction after a stats conviction for the same crime. Here the issue may be more clear-cut, for the double jeopardy, if there is any, appears to have been a direct result of Federal action, and the Fifth Amend- ment prohibition against putting a person twice ‘in jeopardy for the same offense operates directly against the Federal Government. \ It is to be hoped w that the entire Court will be able to sit on this ‘ case and that a more decisive ruling may be forthcoming om It is possible, however, that no comprehensive or general Tule can be laid down when the double- jeopardy plea involves separate Federal and state - trials. No doubt it would be double jeopardy if bz 2.7! 4 Sis wo , , * Federal jury convicted a person of precisely Z. E . ‘ the same crime for which he had already been NOT NOT RECORS : convicted by.a state. But state and Federal laws 138 gon 16 1958 ‘ are seldom identical, and it is quite possible that an offender may be guilty under the state law a werent, Post and but not under the Federal law, or vice versa. If — Times Herald : a kidnaper transported his victim from Maryland Wash. News . to Virginia, for example, he might be convicted Wash. Star a. of Kidnaping In Maryland even though a Federal . jury might not find sufficient evidence to convict N. Y. Herald him of taking his victim across a state line. | Tribune Because of the great diversity of Federal and N. Y. Journal- state laws this question may be in litigatiqn for American a long time, but a full Court can certainly make N.Y. Mirror it glearer-than it is today. . —_—_—_—_—— N. Y. Daily News — N. Y. Times Daily Worker The Worker —____ New Leader Date Jin 8 G2IEW 171958