496 F.

2d 1125

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,

v.
James A. WATSON, Appellant.
No. 72-1452.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued Feb. 5, 1973.
Decided Aug. 20, 1973.

Stefan C. Long, Alexandria, Va. (Court-appointed) for appellant.

Joseph A. Fisher, Asst. U.S. Atty. (Brian P. Gettings, U.S. Atty., on brief),
for appellee.
Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, WINTER, Circuit Judge, and
MURRAY, District Judge.
WINTER, Circuit Judge:

Defendant was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life

imprisonment. 18 U.S.C.A. 1111 (1969). He appeals because he requested, but
was denied, the assignment of two attorneys to represent him. 18 U.S.C.A.
3005 (1969). For this omission, we are obliged to reverse and grant a new trial.
I.

The command of 18 U.S.C.A. 3005 (1969) is unequivocal. It states:

Whoever is indicted for . . . capital crime shall be allowed to make his full
defense by counsel learned in the law; and the court before which he is tried . . .
shall immediately, upon his request, assign to him such counsel, not exceeding
two, as he may desire . . ..1

The indictment charging defendant was returned January 11, 1972. Shortly
thereafter, a single attorney was appointed to represent him and he was

arraigned and pleaded not guilty on January 17, 1972. The trial was set for
March 27, 1972.
5

On February 4, 1972, defendant's court-appointed counsel moved for the

appointment of co-counsel. He failed to refer to 18 U.S.C.A. 3005, but assigned
as a reason in support of the motion the need for assistance to interview a large
number of witnesses before the rapidly approaching trial date. 2 The motion was
denied, although then, and again later, when counsel sought a continuance to
complete trial preparations, the district court ordered the government to furnish
information and to make available witnesses to lessen defense counsel's
burdens of preparation. The trial was held March 27, 1972, and, upon the
verdict of guilty of first degree murder without capital punishment, the district
court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment.
II.

The statute under which defendant was convicted, 18 U.S.C.A. 1111 (1969),
provides that whoever is found guilty 'shall suffer death unless the jury
qualifies its verdict by adding thereto 'without capital punishment', in which
event he shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life . . ..' As its first argument
for affirmance of defendant's conviction despite the district court's failure to
comply with 3005, the government contends that as a result of the Supreme
Court's ruling in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d
346 (1972), defendant was not accused of a 'capital crime' within the meaning
of 18 U.S.C.A. 3005 (1969). Furman held that, with respect to two Georgia
cases and one Texas case, 'the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty
in these cases constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the
Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.' 408 U.S. at 239-240. Since the penalty
provision of 1111 is indistinguishable from those challenged in Furman, it is
clear that, had the death penalty been imposed on defendant, such a sentence
would have been void.3 From this circumstance the government concludes that
defendant was not charged with a 'capital crime' at the time his attorney
requested additional counsel thereby rendering 3005 inapplicable to such a
request. Aside from the question of whether Furman is retroactive in the
context that the government asserts,4 we are not persuaded.

In addition to 18 U.S.C.A. 3005, a considerable number of statutes of the

United States and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, as well as many of
their state counterparts, are predicated in their operative effect upon the concept
of capital crime. Who may admit to bail, 18 U.S.C.A. 3141 (1969), who may be
admitted to bail, 18 U.S.C.A. 3146, 3148 (1969 Ed. and 1973 Cum.Supp.),
limitations on prosecution, 18 U.S.C.A. 3281 (1969), the defendant's scope of

discovery in criminal cases, 18 U.S.C.A. 3432 (1969), his right to peremptory

challenges of prospective jurors, Rule 24(b), F.R.Cr.P., and a convicted
defendant's right to probation or suspension of sentence, 18 U.S.C.A. 3651
(1969), all depend upon whether a defendant is charged with a capital offense,
a crime punishable by death.
8

In the case law since Furman, no finely developed reasoning has emerged as to
whether Furman has effected a wholesale repeal of these provisions and their
state counterparts. The case most nearly in point is State v. Holmes, 263 La.
685, 269 So.2d 207 (1972), which held that Furman does not destroy the
concept of a 'capital offense.' It held that, despite the abolution of the death
penalty, the state must continue to apply its statutory and constitutional laws
requiring unanimous juries and jury sequestration to crimes formerly
punishable by death. The court reasoned that Furman cannot be assumed to
have affected statutes other than those dealing with imposition of the death
penalty, and concluded that it should leave the task of harmonizing ancillary
statutes to the state legislature.

The cases on the application of Furman to state constitutional and statutory

provisions forbidding bail in certain capital cases are split. Those holding that
despite Furman, bail is not available, reason that the classification is based not
on the potential punishment but on the gravity of the offense. People v.
Anderson, 6 Cal.3d 628, 657 n. 45, 100 Cal.Rptr. 152, 171-172 n. 45, 493 P.2d
880, 889-890 n. 45 (1972); People ex rel. Dunbar v. District Court, 500 P.2d
358 (Colo.Sup.Ct.1972) (Per Curiam); State v. Flood, 263 La. 700, 269 So.2d
212 (1972). Those cases holding that after Furman bail must be available, reject
the logic that the nature of the crime remains the same and that exposure to a
life sentence justifies denying bail. State v. Johnson, 61 N.J. 351, 294 A.2d 245
(1972); Ex parte Contella, 485 S.W.2d 910 (Tex.Cr.App.1972);
Commonwealth v. Truesdale, 449 Pa. 325, 296 A.2d 829 (1972); See
Commonwealth v. Hollowell, 11 Cr.L. 2070 (Phila.Ct. of Common Pleas,
March 14, 1972) (bail available pending retrial where sentence on now reversed
conviction was life, not death). It should be noted, however, that the bail cases
differ from provision for a second attorney, because the bail classification
relates primarily to the nature of the offense as it affects society, and not to the
nature of the risks or complexities facing the defendant at trial.

10

We start from the premise that Furman did no more than hold that imposition of
the death penalty under statutes, which created a range of possible sanctions,
including execution, was unconstitutional in an historical context of extremely
rare and apparently arbitrary resort to that penalty. From the plurality of
opinions which were filed in Furman, we cannot be certain that Furman

forecloses all statutory schemes for imposition of capital punishment. It

appears, however, that Furman neither repealed statutes, such as 1111, which
contain death penalty provisions that probably cannot be constitutionally
applied, nor did it repeal statutes such as 3005 which depend for their operation
on the defendant being charged with a 'capital crime.' In a very literal sense, the
offense defined in 1111 is still a 'capital crime;' the statute still authorizes the
imposition of the death penalty and Congress has not repealed it. Nor has
Congress amended any of the statutes creating special procedural rules in
capital cases in response to the Furman decision. We are urged by the
government to fill in a gap created by Congressional inaction on the basis of
our belief that the death penalty may no longer be constitutionally imposed on
defendant. Courts are very naturally hesitant about drawing solely upon their
own authority to repeal pro tanto Congressional enactments. However,
exceptional circumstances would justify a court in removing from the literal
scope of a statute a case to which the application of such statute could not
conceivably serve any of the purposes that motivated Congress to enact it. See
Holy Trinity Church v. United States, 143 U.S. 457, 12 S.Ct. 511, 36 L.Ed. 226
(1892). Were we convinced that defendant's exposure to the risk of imposition
of the death penalty was the sole reason for the two-attorney requirement in
3005, we would be inclined to agree with the government. However, we
believe that there is a significant chance that other considerations also underlay
the two-attorney requirement.
11

The legislative history of the Act of April 30, 1790, and its successive
amendments to the present 18 U.S.C.A. 3005, is relatively unrevealing. Of
course, when it was enacted, treason, willful murder, piracy and forgery or
counterfeiting of a public security of the United States were all punishable by
death alone. It can, of course, be inferred, from the fact that the only
punishment was death, that the inevitability of death as punishment in the event
of conviction was the sole reason why Congress directed that one accused of a
capital offense should be entitled to two lawyers if he requested them. On the
other hand, the class of cases in which Congress retained the death penalty has
diminished over the years. Presently, only such serious crimes as treason, 18
U.S.C.A. 2381 (1969), first degree murder, certain types of kidnapping, 18
U.S.C.A. 1201, 1751 (1969 Ed.1973 Cum.Supp.), certain types of bank
robbery, 18 U.S.C.A. 2113(e) (1969), and homicide resulting from certain
postal infractions, 18 U.S.C.A. 1716 (1969), purportedly carry a possible death
penalty, although for none has Congress provided that death is the sole penalty.
Not every capital crime is a complex one and not every capital crime arises
from a complex set of facts which would require extensive investigation and
trial preparation by defense counsel. Yet it seems to us taht it is more likely
than not that an alleged offense of the type for which Congress has purportedly

continued the death penalty will be a complex and difficult case to prepare and
try.5 The kinds of crimes made punishable by death are usually such as to
generate revulsion in the trier of fact and, as a result, a high degree of prejudice
if the trial is not conducted strictly in accord with recognized procedures,
including the rules of evidence and burden of proof. It is not unlikely that
Congress may have also sought to buttress the defense with two attorneys to
provide greater assurance that a defendant's rights would be fully observed. As
a consequence, we are unable to say, absent a clear legislative expression, that
the possibility of imposition of the death penalty was the sole reason why
Congress gave an accused the right to two attorneys. It follows that we cannot
say that Furman effects a judicial repeal of 3005.
12

We have no doubt that Furman raises pointed legislative questions of whether

3005 should not be repealed or whether the various provisions of Title 18
which purport to authorize the imposition of the death penalty should be
amended in an effort to harmonize them or to validate them under Furman, or
even under United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 88 S.Ct. 1209, 20 L.Ed.2d
138 (1968).6 But we conceive these to be legislative questions and not judicial
ones, especially when a holding by us that Furman has effected a repeal of
3005, of necessity, would probably create serious doubt as to whether the
various other provisions of Title 18 and the Federal Rules of Criminal
Procedure, to which we have referred, have also been repealed. The question of
whether these statutes and the rule should now be repealed merits the prompt
consideration of Congress and the Rules Committee, but we regard our role as
one of proceeding with caution unless and until it unmistakably and clearly
appears that Furman has had this effect. This, we fail to find.

13

We therefore hold that, notwithstanding Furman, defendant had an absolute

statutory right to two attorneys under 3005.
III.

14

Having concluded that defendant was denied a right that he possessed and
sought to exercise to have two attorneys under 3005, we turn to the
government's argument that nonetheless defendant's conviction should not be
disturbed because he was not prejudiced by denial of the right. The government
contends that defendant's single attorney presented a perfectly adequate
defense, that there was nothing another attorney could have done, and that the
major problem confronting the single lawyer, the number of potential
witnesses, was met or at least alleviated by the district court's ordering
extraordinary discovery.

15

From the record, it is possible to conclude that defendant was fairly tried and
the evidence of his guilt was substantial, if not overwhelming, and from this it
may be inferred that defendant was not prejudiced by the denial of his right. In
this connection, however, we recognize the almot insuperable difficulty which
would be placed upon any defendant, if the burden is placed on him, to show
post hoc that he was prejudiced by denial of his right to two attorneys. In Smith
v. United States, 122 U.S.App.D.C. 300, 353 F.2d 838, 845-46 (1965), cert.
denied, 384 U.S. 910, 974, 86 S.Ct. 1350, 1867, 16 L.Ed.2d 362, 684 (1966), it
was held that the failure to advise a defendant of his right to two attorneys
under 3005 created a presumption of prejudice so that the burden of disproving
it was shifted to the government.

16

The cases which the government cites to support its contention that a 3005 case
turns on its facts do not address the instant issue and are distinguishable. In
United States v. Davis, 365 F.2d 251 (6 Cir. 1966), the issue was whether the
defendant had the right to replace his two court- appointed counsel at will. The
court said no. In Crum v. Hunter, 151 F.2d 359 (10 Cir. 1945), cert. denied, 328
U.S. 850, 66 S.Ct. 1117, 90 L.Ed. 1623 (1946), the court held only that the
defendant in a capital case has no right to two counsel unless he requests two.
In the instant case, defendant requested two attorneys. In Smith, supra, the
issue was whether the district court erred in failing to advise the capital
defendant of his right to two counsel. The court held that the district court
should inform the defendant of this right, that prejudice will be presumed if it
does not, but that this presumption was overcome by sole defense counsel's
vigorous defense, by the fact that there was no challenge to the overwhelming
evidence (insanity defense), and by the fact that the defendant was not
sentenced to death. In dictum, Smith unequivocally declared: 'If the substance
of his request had been that he desired the appointment of additional counsel . .
. additional counsel would have been required. Section 3005 provides an
absolute right to additional counsel when requested.' 353 F.2d at 845. See
Davis, supra.

17

We reject the government's argument. Section 3005 is unequivocal in its terms.

We have no right to rewrite it, nor have we any right to provide a district court
with the discretion to apply it that Congress purposefully and unambiguously
withheld. Since in our view, the statute would be eviscerated by application of
the harmless error doctrine, we perceive no alternative but to enforce it.

18

The judgment entered upon conviction is reversed and defendant is awarded a

new trial. Since the other errors of substance claimed by defendant are unlikely
to arise on retrial, we need not consider them.

19

Reversed; new trial granted.

HERBERT F. MURRAY, District Judge dissenting:

20

I dissent. In my view, the sole reason Congress gave an accused charged with a
capital crime the right to two attorneys was the possibility of imposition of the
death penalty. When the Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238,
92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972) abrogated the death penalty, the crime of
murder with which Watson was charged no longer was a capital crime. It
necessarily follows that his otherwise undoubted right under Title 18, Section
3005 to have a second counsel appointed on his request disappeared. Therefore,
his rights have not been violated and the conviction below should be affirmed.

21

It is somewhat remarkable that the two counsel provision of Title 18, Section
3005, which has existed continuously in our law since 1790, is without any
explanatory comment that the diligence of court and counsel can discover. The
founding fathers, so eloquent on many of our other basic rights, seem to have
maintained an unbroken silence with regard to this provision.

22

It does appear that they took pains to depart from the English practice with
regard to the right of counsel. The harsh rule of the English common law
permitted counsel in misdemeanor cases, but denied it in cases of felony or
treason. Felony defendants were not allowed to testify, to call sworn witnesses
on their behalf or see their charges before trial.1 It was not until 1695 that
Parliament adopted a statute permitting representation by counsel in cases of
treason.2 The same right was not extended to all felony cases until 1836, nearly
half a century after the Sixth Amendment was added to the American
Constitution.3 Contrastingly in this country, as Justice Sutherland noted in his
extensive historical review in Powell v. State of Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 64, 53
S.Ct. 55, 62, 77 L.Ed. 158 (1932):

23

'It thus appears that in at least twelve of the thirteen colonies the rule of the
English common law, in the respect now under consideration, had been
definitely rejected and the right to counsel fully recognized in all criminal
prosecutions, save that in one or two instances the right was limited to capital
offenses or to the more serious crimes; and this court seems to have been of the
opinion that this was true in all the colonies.'

24

In adding the right to additional counsel in capital cases, it seems obvious that
the reason for it was the finality of the punishment involved, not any inherent
complexity of capital cases. Many such cases are much simpler and easier to try

from the point of view of counsel than, for example, a multi-defendant

narcotics conspiracy trial. The writer of this opinion believes that in a desire to
guard against human error, the first Congress felt it desirable to have two
lawyers keeping watch on each other when the life of the client was at stake.
25

When the death penalty is abolished, admittedly it gives rise to difficulties in

the administration of the criminal law. However, these difficulties are not
insuperable4 and in regard to the statutes mentioned in the majority opinion,
could be solved judicially on a case by case basis or by the Congress.

This venerable statute was first enacted as 29 of the Act of April 30, 1790; 1
Stat. 118. In the respects pertinent to this case, it has existed continuously since
that date

Counsel on appeal was not counsel at the trial. The district judge who made the
pretrial rulings was not Judge Bryan, the district judge who tried the case

A point the government was quick to 'concede' in its briefs

Defendant's request for appointment of additional counsel came on February 4,

1972. Furman was decided on June 29, 1972. Thus, at the time such request
was made there existed no rule of law that would have prevented the imposition
of the death penalty if defendant were convicted of the offense with which he
was charged. A necessary step in the government's reasoning is that the
subsequent decision in Furman retroactively determines the proper
characterization, on February 4, 1972, of the offense defined in 111 for
purposes of 3005. We do not decide the case on this narrow issue. We prefer to
rest our decision on a determination of what prospective effect, if any, the
Furman decision may have upon criminal procedure statutes, like 3005, whose
operation depends upon the defendant being charged with a 'capital offense.' If
we were to reverse on the narrow ground that Furman cannot retroactively
affect the applicability of 3005, a new trial would be granted. Defendant would
very likely renew his request for two appointed attorneys, thereby squarely
raising the issue of the prospective effect of Furman. Since that issue has been
fully argued in this appeal, considerations of economy of judicial effort and the
general importance of the question warrant deciding it now

It is worth noting that the problems confronting Watson's defense were

relatively complex. His theory was self defense. The killing was witnessed by a
large number of persons whose testimony would be crucial to the establishment
of the privilege of self defense. Many of these persons were members of a

prison population. Such persons are often reluctant to testify truthfully as to

their knowledge of crimes committed by prisoners upon their fellows. Thus,
large numbers of witnesses who had to be handled with extreme care needed to
be interviewed in preparation for trial
6

Jackson held invalid the portion of 18 U.S.C.A. 1201(a) which permitted a jury
in a kidnapping case where the victim suffered harm, to specify that the death
penalty should be imposed and which failed to permit any comparable
imposition of the death penalty upon a plea of guilty. Pope v. United States,
392 U.S. 651, 88 S.Ct. 2145, 20 L.Ed.2d 1317 (1968), reached the same result
with regard to 18 U.S.C.A. 2113(e) which permitted a jury to direct the
imposition of capital punishment when a person was killed in the commission
of a bank robbery but failed to permit a judge the same sentencing alternatives
upon a plea of guilty. The rationale of the decisions was that both statutes
encouraged pleas of guilty and placed an impermissible burden upon a
defendant's right to be tried and not to incriminate himself. These statutes
should be contrasted with ones like 18 U.S.C.A. 1111, which prescribes death
as the penalty for first degree murder unless the jury prescribes clemency

Lewis, Gideon's Trumpet, Chapter 8, p. 104

7 & 8 Wm. III, c. 3, Sec. 1 (1695)

6 & 7 Wm. IV, c. 114, Sec. 1 (1836)

See Donaldson v. Sack, 265 So.2d 499 (Fla.1972); Commonwealth v.

Truesdale, 449 Pa. 325, 296 A.2d 829 (1972); State v. Pett, 253 Minn. 429, 92
N.W.2d 205 (1958)