United States v. Walter Metcalf

ELY, Circuit Judge:

Metcalf was convicted of having obstructed justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1503. The alleged offense centered around an attempt by him to secure possession of an automobile that had been purchased with money obtained in a bank robbery.

Joe Nicholls, who had already pleaded guilty to the offense of bank robbery, was the prosecution’s principal witness against Metcalf. As we shall see, however, his testimony actually undermined the Government’s case. Nicholls related that he had unlawfully taken approximately $2500 from a bank in Spokane, Washington. The next day he paid…