Ingram v. United States

• Decision Date: 16 September 1939
• Docket Number: No. 9181.,9181.
• Citation: 106 F.2d 683
• Parties: INGRAM v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

106 F.2d 683 (1939)

INGRAM v. UNITED STATES.

No. 9181.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

September 16, 1939.

Fred McDonald, E. J. Dunning, and Sol Abrams, all of San Francisco, Cal., for appellant.

Frank J. Hennessy, U. S. Atty., and S. P. Murman, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of San Francisco, Cal.

Before DENMAN, MATHEWS, and STEPHENS, Circuit Judges.

DENMAN, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment upon conviction of appellant for having morphine in his possession in violation of Section 2c of the Jones-Miller Act, 42 Stat. 596 (21 U.S.C. § 174, 21 U.S.C.A. § 174), and for conspiring in the violation with one Joseph A. Woods. Appellant seeks reversal for a claimed prejudicial cross-examination of his principal witness, his wife, Ann Ingram, tending to degrade her in matters having no relevant connection with the prosecution. The objections to the questions asked and exceptions to the court's rulings sufficiently present for our consideration appellant's contentions.

The morphine was found in an apartment of Woods in an apartment house in San Francisco; also in the apartment were some of appellant's clothing and household linen and his suitcase containing a scale, usable for measuring narcotics, empty capsules, and a radio claimed to be his. The presence of these articles in Woods' rooms and the fact that appellant had a key to the apartment which he used to enter shortly after the federal agents, who were waiting there, had discovered the drug, constituted an important part of the evidence leading to his conviction.

Appellant's defense was that the apartment was leased by Woods and his visit there at the time of his arrest was to obtain his clothes which had been deposited there; that the morphine and other articles were not his and none had been placed by him in his suitcase.

To sustain her husband's defense, Mrs. Ingram testified that she had known appellant's co-defendant Woods since February, 1938, when appellant and herself moved to South San Francisco Auto Court, where they lived in a trailer until April 1, 1938, at which time they moved into an apartment house adjacent to that in which Woods lived. There they stayed until the end of July, 1938. Woods visited them both at the trailer and at the apartment. According to the witness, when appellant and herself moved back to the trailer in the latter part of July, 1938, Woods borrowed appellant's linen for his own apartment. The radio, she said, belonged to Woods. She further testified that appellant's discarded wearing apparel was also taken by Woods to his apartment in appellant's suitcase. Mrs. Ingram stated that on August 16, 1938, appellant, Woods, herself and her sister went on a fishing trip. Before leaving, Woods gave appellant the key to his apartment because appellant wanted to get his clothes. On returning, appellant left Mrs. Ingram at the trailer and went to get his clothes in Woods' apartment. She did not see him again...