United States v. Harry Bechtel

OPINION

This court has been advised that the appellant died in Mesa, Arizona on December 20, 1976, while direct review of his criminal conviction was pending. Had Durham v. United States, 401 U.S. 481, 91 S.Ct. 858, 28 L.Ed.2d 200 (1971), been overruled in its entirety by Dove v. United States, 423 U.S. 325, 96 S.Ct. 579, 46 L.Ed.2d 531 (1976), the question whether the cause should be remanded to the district court as law and justice require might now be an open one. We do not understand Dove v. United States, however, as overturning the rule that “death pending direct review of a criminal…