United States v. Conrad E. Metz

ROSS, Circuit Judge.

Conrad E. Metz was tried before a jury 1 and was convicted, along with codefendant Joseph J. Spero, of conspiring to possess and possessing a destructive device not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. 2 On appeal, Metz contends that the district court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial, which was entered immediately after the opening statements of counsel for Metz’s codefend-ants. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm Metz’s conviction.

The central issue on appeal is whether Metz, who chose not to testify in his behalf, was…