United States v. Thomas Houghton

BOWNES, District Judge.

This is an appeal from a jury finding and judgment of guilty of distributing one ounce of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 811(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2.

Appellant has raised five issues which we discuss in order of importance.

The first issue is whether the district court’s refusal to hold a Rule 11 hearing and accept an informed guilty plea from a former codefendant and eye witness so that he could testify deprived the appellant of his Sixth Amendment constitutional right to present witnesses in his defense. 1

The facts bearing on this issue are these. The appellant and…