United States v. Ricks

HARRISON L. WINTER, Chief Judge:

These appeals have been reheard in banc. We conclude that the judgments of conviction for all defendants must be reversed and they must be granted new trials.

I

The facts are set forth in the panel opinions and need not be repeated here. United States v. Ricks, 776 F.2d 455 (4 Cir. 1985). The panel majority ruled that the district court committed reversible error when it failed, albeit inadvertently, to give defense counsel unequivocal advice as to the section of the list of jurors from which the jury would be selected. The failure, it concluded, resulted in an…