United States v. Hoffa, 349 F.2d 20 (6th Cir. 1965)

The Sixth Circuit affirmed the Chattanooga convictions of James R. Hoffa and three others for endeavoring to influence jurors in the 1962 Test Fleet trial. Hoffa was sentenced to four years and a $5,000 fine on each of two counts, consecutively.

Date: 1965-07-29
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Docket: Nos. 15876-15879 (6th Cir.); 349 F.2d 20
Rights: Opinion of a United States court. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States (17 U.S.C. § 105). The text was read on CourtListener (Free Law Project).

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, decided 29 July 1965. The court affirmed the convictions of James R. Hoffa, Thomas Ewing Parks, Larry Campbell and Ewing King for endeavoring to influence petit jurors in the Test Fleet trial, an offense under 18 U.S.C. § 1503.

The opinion records that newspaper publicity led the trial judge to move the case: “Judge Wilson transferred the case for trial from Nashville to Chattanooga. It lasted six and one-half weeks.” Hoffa was convicted on Counts III and V, and “Hoffa was sentenced to a term of four years’ imprisonment and to pay a fine of $5,000, on each count, the sentences to run consecutively.”

The district court’s later opinion in Hoffa v. Saxbe dates the conviction to 4 March 1964 and the sentencing to 12 March 1964, and cites a later Sixth Circuit decision on the case (437 F.2d 11, 1971) that this archive has not read. The Supreme Court affirmed in Hoffa v. United States.

itemHoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293 (1966)The Supreme Court upheld the 1964 jury-tampering convictions of James Hoffa and three others, holding that the Government's use of Edward Partin, who reported Hoffa's statements during the 1962 Nashville trial, did not violate the Fourth, Fifth or Sixth Amendments.

itemExecutive Grant of Clemency commuting James R. Hoffa's sentence, 23 December 1971 (National Archives)President Nixon's Executive Grant of Clemency of 23 December 1971, filed in a Nixon White House staff folder, commuted James R. Hoffa's sentence to six and one-half years on condition that he not manage any labor organization before 6 March 1980.