United States v. Francis Hugh Larkin

COFFIN, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Francis Hugh Larkin was convicted of robbing a government employee of property of the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2114. Since the jury found that defendant and his accomplice had placed the lives of their victims in jeopardy, defendant received the mandatory twenty-five year sentence. Defendant’s most substantial assignment of error concerns an encounter between defendant and a juror while defendant was in custody.

On the morning of the third day of trial, a member of the jury shared an elevator with defendant while defendant was handcuffed and in…