United States v. Willie Smith

Appellant, Willie Smith, was convicted by a jury of aiding and abetting the theft of certain traveler’s checks in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(b) and 18 U. S.C. § 2 and he was committed to the custody of the Attorney General for eight years. The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether the district judge erred in failing to instruct the jury, sua sponte, that the testimony of accomplices should be carefully scrutinized.

It is the general rule that in the absence of a request for an instruction on accomplice testimony, the trial judge is not required to give such an instruction. E. g.…