U.S. v. Croft 124 F.3d 1109 C.A.9 (Or.), 1997

By Jr. William C. Canby

This court case was about a plot to murder the then US attorney for the State of Oregon. Croft and Hagan were indicted for being members of a 'hit team' set up to do this. They were members of a community established in Oregon by an Indian guru Shre Rajneesh, which by the time of the trial had grown to around 4,000. Turner was selected for murder because several of the community had been accused of sham marriages that afforded them entry to the USA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Dec 8, 2020
• ISBN: 4064066409005

Book preview

Jr. William C. Canby

U.S. v. Croft 124 F.3d 1109 C.A.9 (Or.), 1997

Published by Good Press, 2022

[e-mail]

EAN 4064066409005

Table of Contents

Opinion

Background

Analysis

I. Sufficiency of the Indictment

II. Change of Venue

III. Voir Dire

IV. Immunity for Defense Witnesses

V. Continuance for Deposition of Stork

VI. Evidentiary Issues

VII. Cross-Examination and Confrontation Issues

VIII. The Jury Instructions

IX. Discovery issues

X. Sufficiency of the evidence

Conclusion

124 F.3d 1109, 47 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1048, 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7173, 97 Daily Journal D.A.R. 11,560

United States Court of Appeals,

Ninth Circuit.

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

Sally Anne CROFT, Defendant-Appellant.

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

Susan HAGAN, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 95-30378, 95-30397.

Argued and Submitted Nov. 4, 1996.

Decided Sept. 5, 1997.

John F. DuPue, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for plaintiff-appellee.

Leslie R. Weatherhead, Spokane, WA, for defendant-appellant Croft.

Steven T. Wax and Colleen B. Scissors, Portland, OR, for defendant-appellant Hagan.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon; Malcolm F. Marsh, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. Nos. CR-90-00146-2-MFM, CR-90-00146-04- MFM.

Before: CANBY, RYMER and KLEINFELD, Circuit Judges.

Opinion

Table of Contents

CANBY, Circuit Judge:

Sally-Anne Croft and Susan Hagan were convicted by a jury of conspiring to murder the United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, a violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1111, 1114, and 1117. Croft and Hagan now appeal their convictions, arguing on a variety of grounds that they were denied a fair trial and a full opportunity to confront the witnesses against them. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm the convictions.

Background

Table of Contents

BACKGROUND

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Rajneesh) was an Indian mystic who developed a substantial following in Poona, India in the 1970s. In 1981, Rajneesh came to America with a number of his Western followers to found a spiritual community, known as Rajneeshpuram, in Central Oregon. From its inception, the community was highly controversial. The number of Rajneesh's followers living at the community eventually grew to approximately four thousand, with as many as 10-15,000 followers attending annual celebrations there.

Rajneesh's disciples were known as sannyasins, and a small group of the most trusted among them oversaw the community's business and spiritual operations. Ma Anend Sheela (Sheela), Rajneesh's principal secretary and spokeswoman, was in charge of day-to-day operations, and was entrusted with transmitting and executing Rajneesh's orders. Below Sheela were