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    United States v. Virgil R. Jobe, M. D., 487 F.2d 268, 10th Cir. (1973)

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    Virgil Jobe, a medical doctor, was convicted on 19 counts of unlawfully distributing controlled substances in violation of federal law. He appealed his conviction on several grounds. The appellate court upheld the conviction, finding that: (1) the statute was not unconstitutionally vague; (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a change of venue given that an impartial jury was selected; and (3) the police conduct did not constitute entrapment as Jobe was found to be ready and willing to violate the law. The court rejected Jobe's other claims as well.

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    United States v. Virgil R. Jobe, M. D., 487 F.2d 268, 10th Cir. (1973)

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    33 views4 pages
    Virgil Jobe, a medical doctor, was convicted on 19 counts of unlawfully distributing controlled substances in violation of federal law. He appealed his conviction on several grounds. The appellate court upheld the conviction, finding that: (1) the statute was not unconstitutionally vague; (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a change of venue given that an impartial jury was selected; and (3) the police conduct did not constitute entrapment as Jobe was found to be ready and willing to violate the law. The court rejected Jobe's other claims as well.

    Original Description:

    Filed: 1973-11-27 Precedential Status: Precedential Citations: 487 F.2d 268 Docket: 73-1298

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    Virgil Jobe, a medical doctor, was convicted on 19 counts of unlawfully distributing controlled substances in violation of federal law. He appealed his conviction on several grounds. The appellate court upheld the conviction, finding that: (1) the statute was not unconstitutionally vague; (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a change of venue given that an impartial jury was selected; and (3) the police conduct did not constitute entrapment as Jobe was found to be ready and willing to violate the law. The court rejected Jobe's other claims as well.

    Copyright:

    Public Domain
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf
    33 views4 pages

    United States v. Virgil R. Jobe, M. D., 487 F.2d 268, 10th Cir. (1973)

    Uploaded by

    Scribd Government Docs
    Virgil Jobe, a medical doctor, was convicted on 19 counts of unlawfully distributing controlled substances in violation of federal law. He appealed his conviction on several grounds. The appellate court upheld the conviction, finding that: (1) the statute was not unconstitutionally vague; (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a change of venue given that an impartial jury was selected; and (3) the police conduct did not constitute entrapment as Jobe was found to be ready and willing to violate the law. The court rejected Jobe's other claims as well.

    Copyright:

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    of 4

    487 F.

    2d 268

    UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,


    v.
    Virgil R. JOBE, M. D., Defendant-Appellant.
    No. 73-1298.

    United States Court of Appeals,


    Tenth Circuit.
    Argued and Submitted Sept. 10 1973.
    Decided Nov. 7, 1973.
    Rehearing Denied Nov. 27, 1973.

    Floy E. Dawson, Asst. U. S. Atty., Oklahoma City, Okl. (William R.


    Burkett, U. S. Atty., Oklahoma City, Okl., with him on the brief), for
    plaintiff-appellee.
    Leslie L. Conner and James M. Little, Oklahoma City, Okl. (Leslie L.
    Conner, Jr., and O. A. Cargill, Jr., Oklahoma City, Okl., with them on the
    brief), for defendant-appellant.
    Before PICKETT, BREITENSTEIN and BARRETT, Circuit Judges.
    PICKETT, Circuit Judge.

    Appellant Jobe, a duly licensed and practicing medical doctor in Oklahoma


    City, Oklahoma, appeals from a conviction on a nineteen count indictment
    charging him with distributing and causing to be distributed controlled
    substances (narcotics) in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1) (1970). The
    charges arose out of nineteen separate prescriptions issued to a number of
    undercover police officers for drugs admitted to be "controlled substances"
    within the meaning of the statute. Dr. Jobe contends (1) that the statute under
    which he is charged is vague, indefinite, unclear, and fails to define the acts
    alleged in the indictment to be a crime; (2) that the court erred, because of local
    prior adverse publicity, in not granting a change of venue; (3) that the law
    officers in their zeal to obtain evidence of narcotics violations were guilty of
    entrapment; and (4) that the method for selection of jurors for the trial of
    criminal cases filed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, denies a defendant a

    constitutional jury.
    2

    Dr. Jobe, at the time of his arrest, was a long-time general practitioner in
    Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He testified that in recent years he had more or less
    confined his practice to office calls. A large percentage of his patients were
    those having weight problems for which, in some instances, he prescribed
    controlled substances.1 The prescriptions that were the basis of the indictment
    were given to police officers who came to the doctor's office and requested
    prescriptions for various kinds of narcotics. Using fictitious names, they
    appeared out of uniform and were generally dressed to disguise their real
    identity. They were able to obtain the prescriptions within a few minutes after
    an interview and without any actual physical examination. The doctor admitted
    writing the prescriptions and testified that they were issued in good faith and in
    the honest belief that they were given to persons who were in need of the drugs.

    The gist of the attack upon the applicable provisions of the Act is that the
    general terms of the statute do not make it a crime for one registered under the
    Act to dispense a controlled substance through a prescription. The statute is not
    a model of clarity in this respect, but we decided this issue in a recent decision,
    United States v. Bartee, 479 F.2d 484 (10th Cir. 1973), where it was said that it
    is clear and inescapable "that when a medical practitioner issues a prescription
    which is not for a legitimate medical purpose and is not in the usual course of
    his professional practice, then he does violate the statute." 479 F.2d at 488. The
    issue of whether the prescriptions were given in the course of professional
    practice and for a legitimate purpose was settled by the jury verdict.

    The record discloses that prior to trial there was considerable interest in the
    case and it was referred to quite extensively by all the news media. The
    coverage did not appear to be greater than usual in a case of this kind, but there
    was reference to some other criminal cases concerning the doctor. The trial
    court denied a motion for change of venue subject to a reconsideration after the
    voir dire examination of prospective trial jurors. At the time of trial a jury was
    readily selected that was acceptable to the parties. The defendant did not
    exhaust all of the peremptory challenges to which he was entitled. The court
    denied the renewed motion for change of venue. Rule 21 Fed.R.Crim.P.
    provides that the trial of a criminal case shall be transferred to another district
    "if the court is satisfied that there exists in the district where the prosecution is
    pending so great a prejudice against the defendant that he cannot obtain a fair
    and impartial trial at any place fixed by law for holding court in that district."
    The ultimate question confronting a trial judge in situations such as this is
    whether it is possible to select a fair and impartial jury from a jury array
    selected from the vicinity where the publicity occurred. United States v.

    Daddano, 432 F.2d 1119 (7th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 905, 91 S.Ct.
    1366, 28 L.Ed.2d 645 (1971); Jones v. Gasch, 131 U.S.App.D.C. 254, 404 F.2d
    1231 (1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 1029, 88 S.Ct. 1414, 20 L.Ed.2d 286
    (1968). The granting of a motion for change of venue under Rule 21 is
    specifically within the discretion of the trial judge. United States v. Smaldone,
    485 F.2d 1333 (10th Cir. 1973); Wheeler v. United States, 382 F.2d 998 (10th
    Cir. 1967); Dennis v. United States, 302 F.2d 5 (10th Cir. 1962). Little if any
    community prejudice against the doctor was encountered in the selection of the
    jury. We find no abuse of discretion.
    5

    It is next urged that the use of aliases and other deception by the police officers
    was an unlawful conspiracy. The essence of this argument is that the conduct
    constituted entrapment. It has often been said that in enforcing laws pertaining
    to vice, narcotics and similar violations, officers may employ appropriate
    artifice and deception to determine illicit activities. Lewis v. United States, 385
    U.S. 206, 87 S.Ct. 424, 17 L.Ed.2d 312 (1966); Sorrells v. United States, 287
    U.S. 435, 53 S.Ct. 210, 77 L.Ed. 413 (1932). When a person is shown to be
    ready and willing to violate the law, the providing of an opportunity therefor by
    undercover agents or police officers is not entrapment. Lopez v. United States,
    373 U.S. 427, 83 S.Ct. 1381, 10 L.Ed.2d 462 (1963); United States v.
    Crawford, 444 F.2d 1404 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 855, 92 S.Ct. 98,
    30 L.Ed.2d 95 (1971); Garcia v. United States, 373 F.2d 806 (10th Cir. 1967);
    Maestas v. United States, 341 F.2d 493 (10th Cir. 1965).

    Finally, it is urged that the conviction cannot be sustained because the jury
    panel was selected from a petit jury array chosen from only one division and
    not from the entire Western District of Oklahoma. No objection was made prior
    to trial, and if there was any error in the jury selection, it was waived.
    Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(2); Shotwell Manufacturing Co. v. United States, 371 U.S.
    341, 83 S.Ct. 448, 9 L.Ed.2d 357 (1963); Frazier v. United States, 335 U.S.
    497, 69 S.Ct. 201, 93 L.Ed. 187 (1948). It is also argued that there was error in
    the cross examination of Jobe with reference to former convictions. No
    objection was made to the questions and they were not such as to constitute
    plain error or affect substantial rights of the accused. Tapia v. Rodriguez, 446
    F.2d 410 (10th Cir. 1971).

    Affirmed.

    The doctor testified that on some days he would see as many as 100 to 125
    persons in his office

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