Michael Crosby v. United States (506 U.S. 255)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 13, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 506 U.S. 255 · 113 S. Ct. 748
- Decided
- January 13, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Blackmun
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court. This case requires us to decide whether Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 43 permits the trial in absentia of a defendant who absconds prior to trial and is absent at its beginning. We hold that it does not. I In April 1988, a federal grand jury in the District of Minnesota indicted petitioner Michael Crosby and others on a number of counts of mail fraud. The indictment alleged that Crosby and his codefendants had devised a fraudulent scheme to sell military-veteran commemorative medallions supposedly to fund construction of a theme park honoring veterans. Crosby appeared before a federal magistrate on June 15,1988, and, upon his plea of not guilty, was conditionally released from detention after agreeing to post a $100,000 bond and remain in the State. Subsequently, he attended pretrial conferences and hearings with his attorney and was advised that the trial was scheduled to begin on October 12. Crosby did not appear on October 12, however, nor could he be found. United States deputy marshals reported that his house looked as though it had been “cleaned out,” and a neighbor reported that petitioner’s car had been backed halfway into his garage the previous evening, as if he were packing its trunk. As the day wore on, the court remarked several times that the pool of 54 potential jurors was being kept waiting, and that…
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