West v. United States

ON MOTION FOR SUGGESTION OF DEATH

BELSON, Senior Judge:

Counsel for appellant Thomas West has filed a suggestion of appellant’s death. This filing requires us to determine whether in a criminal case the death of an appellant, *1261whose conviction had already been affirmed on direct appeal by a division of this court but whose petition for rehearing en banc was pending at the time of death, should prompt this court to dismiss the petition and the appeal, and remand the case to the trial court to vacate the conviction and order the abatement of the prosecution. We hold that a deceased petitioner who…