Ledet v. United States
| Decision Date | 13 February 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 19045.,19045. |
| Parties | Loyal S. LEDET, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Francis A. Ledet, Houma, La., for appellant.
Brian S. Odem, Asst. U. S. Atty., Brownsville, Tex., Woodrow Seals, U. S. Atty., Houston, Tex., for appellee.
Before TUTTLE, Chief Judge, and POPE* and GEWIN, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from the denial by the Trial Court of a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. This court has previously affirmed the conviction of appellant in Bourg and Ledet v. United States, 5th Cir., 286 F. 2d 124.
The essential facts as proved by the Government on the trial of appellant and Bourg were that upon information from a reliable source, customs agents in Laredo, Texas searched an automobile admittedly belonging to Bourg as it stopped at a filling station apparently leaving Laredo at about 12:15 A.M. after the car had previously been seen crossing the border into Mexico and back across into the United States at approximately 10:40 P.M. The narcotics, 41 grams of Heroin Hydrochloride, were in a small paper bag underneath the right seat in the automobile in which Ledet had been sitting. Bourg was driving and admitted ownership of the automobile. On the front seat, covered with a white handkerchief, were two loaded .38 caliber revolvers. Following the arrest, both defendants denied knowing anything about the presence of the Heroin in the automobile. The two men lived in Houma, Louisiana, and had known each other for several years. Several days before their arrest, they had left Houma in Bourg's automobile and had driven 751 miles to Laredo, as they said, on a pleasure jaunt. On the trial, Bourg elected not to testify. Ledet took the stand and testified to the foregoing facts and to the effect that he left home with only about $25.00 and that Bourg agreed to pay all the expenses. On the two nights prior to their arrest they had visited several "night spots" in Nueva Laredo, across the border in Mexico, Ledet testified from the witness stand that he knew nothing of the heroin.
If the record disclosed only the foregoing facts, the case would be very similar to Guevara v. United States, 5th Cir., 242 F.2d 745. In that case, a package containing 50 marijuana cigarettes had been found on the floor board of Guevara's automobile between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat and a wooden club, admitted to have been fashioned as a weapon for defense, was found under Guevara's seat. This court held in that case that it was not possible under such circumstances for a jury to do more than speculate as to whether the cigarettes were there in the possession of Guevara or his passenger where they were both being prosecuted.
Here, however, the trial court admitted testimony by one of the customs agents that when Bourg was questioned out of the presence of Ledet he told the officers that he had started the trip with approximately $900.00 and when they asked him what had happened to it, he said he had given $800 to Ledet on the evening before their arrest. The agent testified further that they had then asked him to repeat his statement in the presence of Ledet, whereupon he was taken by the officers to the room where Ledet was being questioned and there he said to him, "You remember, I gave you $800 yesterday." The agent testified that to this comment by Bourg, Ledet shook his head and said, "No, you didn't give me $800."
In view of the fact that the hearsay statement of Bourg, testified to by the customs officer as binding on Ledet, was the only substantial fact distinguishing this case from Guevara v. United States, we think it only proper to state that the proof of guilt of the passenger, Ledet, in this case, was about as thin as would support a conviction. If the point had been properly made, we think it quite doubtful whether the testimony of the agent to the effect that Bourg said he had loaned $800 to Ledet would be admissible. The exception to the hearsay rule that permits introduction in evidence of a statement made by a witness tending to show that the defendant is guilty of a crime, if made in the presence of the defendant, is based on the...
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