Canada v. United States

• Decision Date: 11 April 1925
• Docket Number: No. 4401.,4401.
• Citation: 5 F.2d 488
• Parties: CANADA et al. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

5 F.2d 488 (1925)

CANADA et al. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 4401.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

March 4, 1925.

Rehearing Denied April 11, 1925.

D. D. McDonald and Jas. W. Wayman, both of Galveston, Tex., C. W. Howth and M. G. Adams, both of Beaumont, Tex. and John E. Jackson, of New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs in error.

H. M. Holden, U. S. Atty., and Edwin R. Warnken, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of Houston, Tex.

Before WALKER, BRYAN, and FOSTER, Circuit Judges.

FOSTER, Circuit Judge.

On June 11, 1924, an indictment was returned against George R. Canada, Archie Hamilton, Yock Adams, Jesse Dyson, and ten others, charging them with conspiring to commit offenses against the laws of the United States, namely, various customs and tariff laws and the National Prohibition Act (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 10138¼ et seq.), by unlawfully importing, smuggling, landing, and concealing intoxicating liquor. Briefly stated, the scheme charged was that the defendants would bring large quantities of intoxicating liquor intended for beverage purposes from Grand Cayman or other foreign countries to the territorial waters of the United States in the vicinity of Galveston, Port Arthur, and Sabine Pass, Tex., in the British auxiliary schooner Island Home, which certain named defendants were to man, the liquor to be then transported to shore in motorboats owned and operated by others of the defendants, the liquor to be then sold, without the defendants having complied with the customs laws and regulations relative to invoicing, entry, payment of duty, etc., and also in violation of the National Prohibition Act.

The plaintiffs in error were convicted. Three of the others, the master, mate, and a member of the crew of the Island Home, all British subjects, were also convicted, but have not sued out writs of error. Verdicts of not guilty were returned as to two others, and apparently the other five were not apprehended and placed on trial.

Error is assigned to the refusal of the court to direct a verdict for defendants at the close of the case on the grounds that the evidence was not sufficient to prove the offense nor to prove that any overt act was committed within the jurisdiction of the court.

Error is also assigned to the admission in evidence of certain documents taken from the possession of one V. Farrell, not charged in the indictment, without a search warrant, and other documents and liquor found on the schooner Island Home.

Error is also assigned to the refusal of the court to give two special...