United States v. George Bucuvalas

COFFIN, Senior Circuit Judge.

In this appeal, we have occasion to consider the effect of jury verdicts acquitting one alleged conspirator and convicting the sole other alleged conspirator on the same count in the same trial. Specifically, the convicted conspirator argues that the “rule of consistency” — a traditionally recognized excéption to the general principle proclaimed in Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390, 393-394, 52 S.Ct. 189, 190-191, 76 L.Ed. 356 (1932), that inconsistency in a criminal verdict does not require setting the verdict aside — invalidates his conviction. The defendant…