United States v. John Newton Sams A/K/A Adolphus John Sams

TUTTLE, Circuit Judge:

The principal, and only serious, contention made by Sams on his appeal from a conviction and sentence for falsely forging a United States Government check in violation of Title 18 U.S.C.A. § 495, deals with the manner in which the trial court permitted the accused to exercise his peremptory challenges during the empanelling of the jury.

The issue arose in the following manner: The trial judge was a visiting judge designated to sit in the Tampa Division of the Middle District of Florida. Without prior announcement to counsel the trial judge utilized a method of selecting a…