HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017145.jpg
2.5 MB
Extraction Summary
7
People
1
Organizations
0
Locations
3
Events
1
Relationships
4
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Book manuscript / legal memoir page (evidence exhibit)
File Size:
2.5 MB
Summary
This document appears to be a page from a memoir or legal manuscript (likely by Alan Dershowitz, given the context of clerking for Judge Bazelon). It discusses a specific legal case (Miller v. US, 1963) involving a wallet theft of $14, focusing on the legal theory concerning 'flight' (fleeing the scene) as evidence of guilt. The author contrasts traditional legal views (Wigmore) with psychoanalytic perspectives (Freud) to argue that fleeing can be a neurotic reaction rather than proof of a crime. The page bears a 'HOUSE_OVERSIGHT' Bates stamp, indicating it was part of a document production for a congressional investigation.
People (7)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Judge Bazelon | Judge |
The narrator clerked for this judge during the time of the events described.
|
| Narrator | Author/Lawyer |
First-person narrator ('I', 'my desk') who clerked for Judge Bazelon and has a background in psychiatry and law. (Con...
|
| Wigmore | Legal Commentator |
Author of a quote regarding 'evidence of guilty feelings' and consciousness of guilt.
|
| Sigmund Freud | Psychoanalyst |
Quoted by the narrator to offer a counter-argument regarding neurotic guilt versus actual guilt.
|
| Maimonides | Jewish Scholar |
Mentioned in footnote 17 as having provided nuanced psychological insight centuries earlier.
|
| The Defendant | Accused |
Accused of robbery involving a wallet; fled the scene; convicted and sentenced to 2-6 years.
|
| The Alleged Victim | Victim |
Person whose wallet was taken.
|
Organizations (1)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| House Oversight Committee |
Indicated by the Bates stamp 'HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017145'.
|
Timeline (3 events)
June 14, 1963
Unknown
Pickpocketing incident where a defendant fled with a wallet containing $14.
Unknown
Defendant
Alleged Victim
Relationships (1)
mentions 'my year with Judge Bazelon'
Key Quotes (4)
"One of the most intriguing cases during my year with Judge Bazelon began as an ordinary pick pocketing of a wallet containing $14."Source
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Quote #1
"There was no dispute that the defendant did flee when confronted by the alleged victim shouting , 'Hey, that’s my wallet. Give it back to me.'"Source
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Quote #2
"The commission of a crime leaves usually upon the consciousness a moral impression which is characteristic. The innocent man is without it; the guilty man usually has it."Source
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Quote #3
"You may be lead astray…by a neurotic who reacts as though he were guilty even though he is innocent—because a lurking sense of guilt already in him assimilates the accusation made against him on this particular occasion."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017145.jpg
Quote #4
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (3,327 characters)
4.2.12
WC: 191694
WC: 191694
One of the most intriguing cases during my year with Judge Bazelon began as an ordinary pick
pocketing of a wallet containing $14. Based on the sparse evidence, “the jury could have inferred
either that the wallet was picked from [the alleged victim’s] pocket, or that it was accidentally
dropped from his pocket and was picked up by someone who ran off with it.”16 The judge
instructed the jury that there is a legal presumption that a defendant’s “flight may be considered
by jurors as evidence of guilt.”
pocketing of a wallet containing $14. Based on the sparse evidence, “the jury could have inferred
either that the wallet was picked from [the alleged victim’s] pocket, or that it was accidentally
dropped from his pocket and was picked up by someone who ran off with it.”16 The judge
instructed the jury that there is a legal presumption that a defendant’s “flight may be considered
by jurors as evidence of guilt.”
There was no dispute that the defendant did flee when confronted by the alleged victim shouting ,
“Hey, that’s my wallet. Give it back to me.” But of course the defendant might well flee even if
he simply picked up a dropped wallet and didn’t want to return it. Such an action would be
immoral and perhaps even minimally criminal—the misdemeanor of failing to return a found
wallet, for which he had not been charged. But the defendant here was charged with the felony of
robbery. The jury convicted him of robbery and the judge sentenced him to prison for two to six
years.
“Hey, that’s my wallet. Give it back to me.” But of course the defendant might well flee even if
he simply picked up a dropped wallet and didn’t want to return it. Such an action would be
immoral and perhaps even minimally criminal—the misdemeanor of failing to return a found
wallet, for which he had not been charged. But the defendant here was charged with the felony of
robbery. The jury convicted him of robbery and the judge sentenced him to prison for two to six
years.
When the case came across my desk, I saw it as an opportunity to use my law school background
in psychiatry and law—I was working on a casebook with two of my law school professors on
“Psychoanalysis, Psychiatry and the Law”—to reverse what appeared to be a possibly unjust
conviction. The great legal commentator Wigmore had written the following about evidence of
guilty feelings:
in psychiatry and law—I was working on a casebook with two of my law school professors on
“Psychoanalysis, Psychiatry and the Law”—to reverse what appeared to be a possibly unjust
conviction. The great legal commentator Wigmore had written the following about evidence of
guilty feelings:
“The commission of a crime leaves usually upon the consciousness a moral impression
which is characteristic. The innocent man is without it; the guilty man usually has it. Its
evidential value has never been doubted. The inference from consciousness of guilt to
“guilty” is always available in evidence. It is a most powerful one, because the only other
hypothesis conceivable is the rare one that the person’s consciousness is caused by a
delusion, and not by the action doing of the act.”17
which is characteristic. The innocent man is without it; the guilty man usually has it. Its
evidential value has never been doubted. The inference from consciousness of guilt to
“guilty” is always available in evidence. It is a most powerful one, because the only other
hypothesis conceivable is the rare one that the person’s consciousness is caused by a
delusion, and not by the action doing of the act.”17
This view had become the accepted wisdom by lawyers, judges and professors and was the basis
for the judge’s instructions to the jury in the pick pocketing case. I found it highly questionable,
especially in the context of the facts of the case.
for the judge’s instructions to the jury in the pick pocketing case. I found it highly questionable,
especially in the context of the facts of the case.
In an effort to support my conclusion that the defendant’s flight in this case was equally consistent
with the legally innocent explanation that he was fleeing to avoid returning a dropped wallet, or
the guilty explanation that he was fleeing from a pick pocketing crime, I introduced a quote from
Sigmund Freud:
with the legally innocent explanation that he was fleeing to avoid returning a dropped wallet, or
the guilty explanation that he was fleeing from a pick pocketing crime, I introduced a quote from
Sigmund Freud:
“You may be lead astray…by a neurotic who reacts as though he were guilty even though
he is innocent—because a lurking sense of guilt already in him assimilates the accusation
made against him on this particular occasion. You must not regard this possibility as an
idle one; you have only to think of the nursery where you can often observe it. It
sometimes happens that a child who has been accused of a misdeed denied the accusation,
but at the same time weeps like a sinner who has been caught. You might think that the
child lies, even while it asserts its innocence; but this need not be so. The child is really
he is innocent—because a lurking sense of guilt already in him assimilates the accusation
made against him on this particular occasion. You must not regard this possibility as an
idle one; you have only to think of the nursery where you can often observe it. It
sometimes happens that a child who has been accused of a misdeed denied the accusation,
but at the same time weeps like a sinner who has been caught. You might think that the
child lies, even while it asserts its innocence; but this need not be so. The child is really
16 Miller v. US (June 14, 1963)
17 Centuries early, the Jewish scholar Maimonides had provided a more nuanced psychological insight. [quote]
58
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17 Centuries early, the Jewish scholar Maimonides had provided a more nuanced psychological insight. [quote]
58
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