United States v. Haney

Tony Francis escaped from prison. After his escape, the television show “America’s Most Wanted” wrongly described Francis as a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white-supremacist prison gang. Racial tensions were sparked at the penitentiary where Francis was housed after he was re-captured, and Francis believed that his only option was to escape from the penitentiary before he was severely hurt. Francis sought the help of Robert Haney (defendant) to escape from the penitentiary again. Although Francis could have checked himself in to protective custody, or Haney could have alerted guards to Francis's situation by passing an anonymous note, Francis and Haney believed that these options were riskier due to the fear of retribution from other inmates. Haney helped to gather different objects to aid in the escape, but on the night of the proposed escape, Haney convinced Francis that it would be best to get caught trying to escape in order to be separated from the rest of the prisoners. Francis agreed and left escape objects scattered across the prison yard until he was caught by prison officials and taken into custody. Haney and Francis were both charged with possession of escape paraphernalia in prison and with attempted escape. At Francis’s trial, the court instructed the jury on the duress defense. However, the duress instruction was denied at Haney’s trial. Both Francis and Haney were convicted of possessing escape paraphernalia but acquitted of attempted escape. Haney appealed his conviction to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, claiming that the court should have given the jury a duress instruction.