Martin v. United States

• Decision Date: 07 April 1920
• Docket Number: 5436.
• Citation: 264 F. 950
• Parties: MARTIN v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

264 F. 950

MARTIN v. UNITED STATES.

No. 5436.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

April 7, 1920

J. E Willits, of Hastings, Neb., for plaintiff in error.

T. S Allen, U.S. Atty., of Lincoln, Neb. (F. A. Peterson, Asst U.S. Atty., of Omaha, Neb., on the brief), for the United States.

Before HOOK and CARLAND, Circuit Judges, and VAN VALKENBURGH District judge.

CARLAND Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff in error, hereafter called defendant, was convicted and sentenced upon an information charging him with having willfully and knowingly transported spirituous and intoxicating liquors, to wit, 192 quarts of whisky, from St. Joseph, Mo., to Hastings, Neb., not for medicinal, sacramental, mechanical, or scientific purposes, and not upon or by virtue of any prescription of a licensed or practicing physician, as provided by the laws of the state of Nebraska. At the close of all the evidence counsel for defendant requested the court to direct a verdict in favor of said defendant, upon the ground that the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction for the crime charged. This motion was overruled, and such ruling is assigned as error.

The only evidence tending to show the defendant guilty was as follows: One hundred and two quarts of whisky were found at defendant's residence in Adams county, Neb., February 11, 1919. Defendant told the officers making the seizure that he had brought the whisky from St. Joseph, Mo., on February 8, 1919. It was also shown that on February 13, 1919, defendant had pleaded guilty to a complaint in the county court of Adams county, Neb., which complaint was in the following language:

'That between the 1st and the 10th day of February, A.D. 1919, and on or about the 1st day of February, A.D. 1919, one Clifford K. Martin, the defendant herein, did unlawfully and knowingly carry and transport, in an automobile, intoxicating liquor, to wit, whisky, from the state of Missouri to and into the county of Adams and state of Nebraska, to and for himself and other persons, to be kept, stored, sold, and otherwise disposed of in said Adams county, in violation of the statute in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the people of the state of Nebraska.'

It is the contention of counsel for the defendant that the evidence stated constituted extrajudicial confessions or admissions which were not sufficient to authorize a conviction of the crime charged unless corroborated by independent evidence of the corpus delicti. Counsel for the United States do not contend that there would be evidence sufficient to sustain the conviction, if all the evidence stated amounted only to extrajudicial confessions or admissions. This admission of counsel is in line with the great weight of authority and is the established rule in this circuit. Goff v. United States, 257 F. 295, 168 C.C.A. 378; Naftzger v. United States, 200 F. 494, and cases cited on page 498, 118 C.C.A. 598.

Counsel however, maintain that the law is well settled that judicial confessions or admissions, uncorroborated by any other proof of the corpus delicti, are sufficient to support a conviction, and cites many cases in support of his position. It is true that a judicial confession or admission will support a conviction in the case in which it is made, because a plea of guilty...