United States v. James Kuh and Howard Rea

PELL, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal by the Government under 18 U.S.C. § 3731 from an order dismissing Count Two of an indictment against defendants James Kuh and Howard Rea on the ground that the misprision of felony statute, 18 U.S.C. § 4, was unconstitutional as applied to the defendants.

I. Background Facts

On July 11,1975, the sum of $150,000 was taken from a Purolator Security, Inc. armored truck while it was en route to the South Suburban Federal Savings and Loan Association of Harvey, Illinois. Subsequently, FBI agents arrested Irwin Berndt and Edward Howard and charged them with the…