United States v. Wallace Melvin Mitchell, Paul John Forrest, Edward John Kerns, William Earl Ziefel, Edward John Kerns

OPINION OF THE COURT

ADAMS., Circuit Judge.

Appellant, Edward Kerns, and three other men were indicted for the robbery of a federally-insured bank in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d). The three co-defendants, Wallace Mitchell, Paul Forrest and Earl Ziefel, pleaded guilty. Kerns pleaded not guilty, and was tried by a jury before the Honorable Michael H. Sheridan.

The bank robbery occurred on June 28, 1968. The government’s evidence at trial established that Kerns and two of the co-defendants escaped from the state prison in Huntington, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 1968, and that on June 25th, Kerns…