United States v. Harry O. Stratton, William D. Riggs and Loy Z. Harrell, United States of America v. Samuel S. Smith

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

We are faced today with what is both substantively and procedurally a rara avis in the covey of federal cases. A Florida state court judge — a man charged with upholding our nation’s laws — together with his bailiff and two other individuals, has been convicted of converting his office into a nest of bribery and corruption. During the trial of these men, the district judge made several unusual procedural rulings in an effort to keep the entire flock of defendants together in a single proceeding. We find that the indictment in this case was substantively sufficient to…