Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
2d 723
The unlawful sale of which Brown was convicted allegedly occurred between
8:30 and 9:00 P.M., on the evening of July 29, 1960, in Hartford, Connecticut.
Brown's "newly discovered evidence," consisting primarily of the testimony of
one Les Chant, was apparently intended to establish that the appellant had not,
in fact, been in Hartford on the evening in question, but instead had been with
Chant in Springfield, Massachusetts, listening to the radio broadcast of a
baseball game.
Judge Anderson, who had presided over Brown's trial without a jury, hardly
erred in refusing to find that Chant's hazy recollections rebutted the conclusive
prosecution testimony offered at trial, and we cannot so hold. "A motion for a
new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence is addressed to the
discretion of the trial judge. In deciding it, he may utilize the knowledge he
gained from presiding at the trial as well as the showing made on the motion.
On an appeal from denial of the motion decision must turn on whether there has
been an abuse of discretion in denying it. And the order will not be reversed
unless the new material tends to `furnish evidence of defendant's innocence,'
and is such as would probably produce an acquittal." United States v. On Lee,
201 F.2d 722 (2d Cir.) cert. denied, 345 U.S. 936, 73 S.Ct. 798, 97 L.Ed. 1364
(1953). In the present case, Brown has clearly failed to make the requisite
showing. The order is affirmed.