Gonzales v. United States, 11285.
| Decision Date | 20 June 1947 |
| Docket Number | No. 11285.,11285. |
| Citation | 162 F.2d 870 |
| Parties | GONZALES v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Gladys Towles Root, of Los Angeles, Cal., for appellant.
James M. Carter, U.S. Atty., Ernest A. Tolin and William Strong, Asst. U. S. Attys., all of Los Angeles, Cal., for appellee.
Before STEPHENS, HEALY and ORR, Circuit Judges.
Judgment was pronounced against Josephine Gonzales, appellant herein, after conviction on a count of an indictment charging her with violating the importation and exportation act, 21 U.S.C.A. § 174 (Narcotic Drugs), and on another count of the indictment charging her with violating the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act, § 1(a), 26 U. S.C.A. Int.Rev.Code, § 2553(a).
By statement of her counsel in open session of this court, the issue here is the constitutionality of the acts under which her conviction was had. Her point is that the closing sentence of 21 U.S.C.A. § 174, wherein it is said possession of the narcotic drug "shall be deemed sufficient evidence to authorize conviction unless the defendant explains the possession to the satisfaction of the jury" on its face authorizes the jury to adjudge its satisfaction of the explanation given upon its own whim or reason without any standard of or for measurement and thus unlawfully delegates the legislative function.
The point was inherent in the case of Yee Hem v. United States, 1925, 268 U.S. 178, 45 S.Ct. 470, 69 L.Ed. 904. There the point was approached through a claim that the presumption of guilt, unless possession was explained to the satisfaction of the jury, in effect, made a defendant a witness against himself. The court, 268 U.S. at page 184, 45 S.Ct. at page 471, 69 L.Ed. 904, said: ...
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Sipes v. United States
...upheld in an earlier form in Casey v. United States, 276 U.S. 413, 418, 48 S.Ct. 373, 72 L.Ed. 632 (1928), and in Gonzales v. United States, 162 F.2d 870 (9 Cir. 1947). However, in Tot v. United States, 319 U.S. 463, 467-468, 63 S.Ct. 1241, 87 L.Ed. 1519 (1943), similar language in § 2(f) o......
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Bradford v. United States
...attacks the constitutionality of this Act. Many cases have upheld the constitutionality of this and similar statutes. Gonzales v. United States, 9 Cir., 1947, 162 F.2d 870; Yee Hem v. United States, 1925, 268 U.S. 178, 45 S.Ct. 470, 69 L.Ed. 904; Casey v. United States, 1928, 276 U.S. 413, ......
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...had been imported or brought into the United States contrary to law. "U.S.C. 174." 4 Such a challenge was advanced in Gonzales v. United States, 9 Cir., 162 F.2d 870, 871, but was rejected on the authority of the Yee Hem v. United States, 268 U.S. 178, 45 S.Ct. 470, 69 L.Ed. 904; See also, ......
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