U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1977

United States v. Sherryl Lynn Grimsbo Henricksen

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · Decided December 8, 1977 · Thornberry, Roney, Hill

564 F.2d 197; 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 5709 (Federal Reporter, Second Series)

Counsel

Gerald H. Goldstein, San Antonio, Tex., for defendant-appellant., Jamie C. Boyd, U. S. Atty., LeRoy Morgan Jahn, Robert S. Bennett, Asst. U. S. Attys., San Antonio, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.

Cases that cite this one

50 later published cases cite this decision. The 24 that cite it most often are listed here.

State v. Peterson (Iowa Ct. App. 1995)
United States v. Larry Hammond, A/K/A Larry Hoover (5th Cir. 1979)
United States v. Roberto Hernandez-Escobar (9th Cir. 2018)
United States v. Jean Rene Duperval (11th Cir. 2015)
State of Arizona v. Veronica Sanchez-Equihua (Ariz. Ct. App. 2014)
United States v. Schlei (11th Cir. 1997)
United States v. Claude L. Blackwell (D.C. Cir. 1982)
McMillian v. Johnson (United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama 1995)
State v. Fox (Iowa 1992)
United States v. George Terzado-Madruga (11th Cir. 1990)
United States v. Vasquez-Hernandez (District Court, W.D. Texas 2018)
United States v. Jean Rene Duperval (11th Cir. 2015)
Holland v. Pierce (United States District Court for the District of Delaware 2015)
State v. Finley (Kan. 2000)
United States v. Dupre (5th Cir. 1997)
Heller v. Plave (United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida 1990)
State v. Bell (Utah 1988)
State v. Fort (N.J. 1985)
Samuel Howard Peeler and Dennis Alan Peeler v. Donald Wyrick, Warden and Attorney General, State of Missouri (8th Cir. 1984)
United States v. Gary Arthur Teague (4th Cir. 1984)
State v. Jackson (Ohio Ct. App. 2018)
United States v. Sean Gerald Penoncello (8th Cir. 2016)
Darryl Colbert v. State of Minnesota (Minn. 2015)
State v. Blazas (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2013)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Defendant Sherryl Lynn Grimsbo Henricksen was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. §§ 846, 841(a)(1). Prior to trial, a codefendant, whose testimony would have tended to exonerate Henricksen, plea bargained with the Government. As part of his plea, he had to agree not to testify in any manner regarding Henricksen. If he did testify, the Government stated the agreement would be void, and he would be tried on all counts of the indictment. The codefendant refused to testify.

The Government, with the concurrence of the Justice Department and the trial judge, has now confessed error on this point and has requested that we reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial. Based upon an independent examination of the record, we conclude that the Government’s confession of error is in order. Substantial Government interference with a defense witness’ free and unhampered choice to testify violates due process. United States v. Morrison, 535 F.2d 223 (3d Cir. 1976); United States v. Thomas, 488 F.2d 334 (6th Cir. 1973). See United States v. Valdes, 545 F.2d 957, 959-961 (5th Cir. 1977).

The judgment of conviction is reversed and the case is remanded for a new trial.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.