Leary v. United States

• Decision Date: 29 September 1967
• Docket Number: No. 23570.,23570.
• Citation: 383 F.2d 851
• Parties: Timothy LEARY, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

383 F.2d 851 (1967)

Timothy LEARY, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 23570.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

September 29, 1967.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Joel Jay Finer, Stanford, Cal., for appellant.

James R. Gough, Asst. U. S. Atty., Morton L. Susman, Ronald J. Blask, Asst. U. S. Atty., Houston, Tex., for appellee.

Before GEWIN and AINSWORTH, Circuit Judges, and LYNNE, District Judge.

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge:

This unusual criminal case delves into the new realm of psychedelic experience, and into mysticism, religion and its free exercise. The principal issue we must decide is whether the conviction of appellant for violations of federal criminal statutes relating to marihuana — a psychedelic drug which the defendant claims he uses as a religious sacramental aid — contravenes the accused's First Amendment right to the free exercise of his religion. There are, however, other important questions, some of them constitutional also, which we will discuss fully.

Dr. Timothy Leary, appellant, and his minor daughter, Susan Leary, age 18, were jointly indicted on three counts for offenses pertaining to marihuana. Dr. Leary was tried before a jury on March 11, 1966. Count 1, which charged the smuggling of marihuana into the United States which should have been invoiced (declared), was dismissed by the court following a motion for judgment of acquittal. Dr. Leary was found guilty, however, on Count 2, which charged transportation, and facilitation of transportation, and concealment of marihuana after importation,¹ in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 176a,² and on Count 3, which charged transportation and concealment of marihuana by defendants as transferees, required to pay the transfer tax imposed by the Internal Revenue Code,³ in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 4744(a) (2).⁴ Appellant was sentenced to the maximum penalties and fines provided for such offenses, subject, however, to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 4208(b), and was ordered committed to the medical center at Springfield, Missouri, for a complete study⁵ to be used by the court as a basis for determining the ultimate sentence in the case. Defendant's motion for a new trial was denied.

Susan Leary was tried at the same time as her father, Dr. Leary, by the court without a jury (trial by jury having been waived) and found guilty on Count 3 of the indictment but not guilty on Counts 1 and 2. Imposition of sentence was suspended and she was placed on probation during the remainder of her minority, without supervision, under the provisions of the Youth Corrections Act, 18 U.S.C. § 5010(a). Her appeal was then dismissed on her own motion.

The facts of this case are relatively uncomplicated.

Dr. Leary left New York on December 20, 1965 by automobile, accompanied by his two children, Susan, age 18, and John, age 16, and two other persons. Their destination was Yucatan, Mexico, and the alleged purpose of the trip was a Christmas vacation for the Leary children and to provide Dr. Leary the opportunity to write a book and to prepare for a summer session to be conducted with a research group at his home in Millbrook, New York. On December 22, 1965, Dr. Leary and the four passengers drove across the international boundary at Laredo, Texas, into the Republic of Mexico, stopped at the Mexican immigration station for several minutes, and turned back toward the United States. At approximately 6:45 p. m., they arrived at the secondary inspection area, Laredo International Bridge, Laredo, Texas. Dr. Leary, the driver of the vehicle, told a U. S. Customs official that they had driven across the boundary into Mexico within the prior hour, that they had been unable to secure tourist permits and had been told by Mexican immigration officials to return the following morning at 8:00 a. m. at which time the necessary Mexican permits would be given to them. The U. S. inspector asked the group if they had anything to declare from Mexico and was told that they had not. After the occupants alighted from the vehicle, the U. S. inspector observed some vegetable material and a seed on the floor of the automobile which appeared to him to be marihuana. Thus the five travelers were arrested. A search of the baggage, the vehicle and of the individuals was made. Sweepings from the car floor and glove compartment were later proved to be marihuana.⁶ While Dr. Leary was being searched, he stated that he had never used marihuana. A woman Customs inspector performed a personal search of the two female travelers, which resulted in the finding of a small metal container on the person of Susan Leary after she had disrobed. Within the container were three partially smoked marihuana cigarettes, a small quantity of semi-refined marihuana and capsules of detroamphetamine sulfate (said to be a nonprohibitive narcotic). Demand was made of Dr. Leary for the required Treasury Department transferee form. He stated that he had no such form. Susan Leary, in response to the same demand, refused to make any statement. Dr. Leary admitted to a U. S. Customs agent that the metal box taken from his daughter, Susan, containing the marihuana, was his property. He further stated in the presence of two Government agents that he knew more about narcotics and marihuana than either of them.

Dr. Leary testified on his own behalf. He admitted that the seized marihuana had been obtained by him in New York and had been in his possession continuously on his trip from New York to Laredo; that he had neither obtained an order form nor paid a transfer tax for the marihuana as required by the statute. He said that he asked the four people in his group to get rid of the marihuana; that just prior to arriving at the U. S. Customs Station, while crossing the International Bridge, he asked if the marihuana had been disposed of and was told by Susan, his daughter, that it had not been and it was in her possession. He further admitted that while on the trip from New York to Mexico at an overnight stop in New Orleans, Louisiana, he smoked marihuana to relieve a low spiritual state; that this incident was equivalent to an hour of silent meditation from which he derived spiritual benefit. Dr. Leary testified that he was familiar with the laws of the United States relative to marihuana and was aware that his actions were contrary to such laws.⁷ In his testimony he attempted to justify use of this drug which he said was for religious and scientific purposes.

Dr. Leary has an impressive academic background. He testified that he received a Ph. D. degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of California. During the years from 1944 to 1960 he wrote and published several publications relative to the use of psychedelic drugs in the treatment of the mentally ill, including thirteen scientific articles and two books. In 1950 he helped found the Kaiser Psychiatric Clinic in Oakland, California. During the next eight years he received nearly one-half million dollars in federal grants at the Kaiser Clinic for research work on mental illness. He published four diagnostic tests relative to mental illness which have been used in diagnosing and treating mental patients in over 750 clinics and hospitals in the United States and which have been translated into several foreign languages. He served on the University of California medical faculty from 1953 to 1956. In 1959 he joined the Harvard University faculty.

In 1960, while visiting Mexico, he testified that he had "the most intense religious experience" he had ever had in his life as the result of having eaten a number of the "Sacred Mushrooms" of Mexico. The incident changed his life. Since that time he has written five books and thirty-eight articles pertaining to religious and scientific use of psychedelic drugs, and he has devoted his life to attempting to understand the religious experience and how it can be applied to help others. He said that he formed a religious research group after returning to Harvard University, and with the help of Aldous Huxley, he experimented with certain psychedelic drugs. In 1962 he studied Hinduism and after a year became a member of a Hindu sect. In 1963 he left Harvard, performed further experimental work in Mexico, and later established a center and workshop for religious and scientific research in Millbrook, New York, which center is now his home. The building also serves as a place for religious meditation and spiritual retreat. Rooms in the house contain shrines devoted to Hindu, Buddhist and Christian ways of finding God, as well as religious pictures and statues. Dr. Leary has traveled extensively through Asia in pursuit of his religious endeavors and has studied Buddhism and Hinduism with several religious teachers and monks. While studying in India with Sri Asoke Fukir, a religious leader, Dr. Leary participated in religious rituals in which marihuana was used. He was converted to Hinduism, and is now a member of the Brahmakrishna sect in Massachusetts.

Dr. Leary further testified that he first used marihuana in August or September 1964. Marihuana enables him to attain what he describes as the third level of consciousness. Other psychedelic drugs take a person to a higher level. According to the Hindu religion, there are thousands of roads to illumination to the god within a person. Different sects specialize in different aids. The Hindu sect in India of which he became a member uses marihuana for religious illumination and meditation. He ordinarily uses marihuana less than once a week and then only for religious purposes. He draws no distinction between his religious beliefs and his scientific experimentation. If he could not use marihuana it would not affect his religious beliefs but he would consider it a violation of those beliefs and practices if he were denied its use.

Dr. Leary said he acquired the marihuana in New York which led to his conviction. He testified that the reason he did not declare the...