Poulos v. United States

• Citation: 8 F.2d 120
• Decision Date: 30 June 1925
• Docket Number: No. 4337.,4337.
• Parties: POULOS et al. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

8 F.2d 120 (1925)

POULOS et al. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 4337.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

June 30, 1925.

Ben W. Johnson and J. Eugene Farber, both of Toledo, Ohio (Johnson, Johnson & Farber, of Toledo, Ohio, on the brief), for plaintiffs in error.

M. E. Evans, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Cleveland, Ohio (A. E. Bernsteen, U. S. Atty., and D. C. Van Buren, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of Cleveland, Ohio, on the brief), for the United States.

Before DENISON and DONAHUE, Circuit Judges, and HOUGH, District Judge.

PER CURIAM.

The plaintiffs in error, John Poulos and Peter Fushanis, were tried and convicted upon all three counts of an indictment — the first count of which charged a conspiracy to violate what is commonly known as the Harrison Narcotic Act (Comp. St. §§ 6287g-6287q); the second count charged the sale and distribution of cocaine; the third count charged the accused with being dealers in cocaine and with having cocaine in their possession without having registered as required by law.

There was a direct and substantial conflict in the evidence. The question of the credibility of witnesses and of the weight of the evidence are questions for the jury. It is sufficient to say that the evidence offered on the part of the government, if believed by the jury, fully sustains the verdict and judgment.

It was developed by the evidence introduced upon the trial of the cause that the defendants were partners in a grocery and confectionary business at the corner of Jefferson avenue and Michigan street in the city of Toledo, Ohio; that they maintained separate dwellings in the same duplex building on Thirteenth street, some little distance from their place of business; that Fushanis resided in the lower apartment, No. 18, and Poulos lived in the upper apartment, No. 20; that in the night season of January 25, 1924, and about 7 o'clock that evening Fushanis was arrested in front of his home and taken to the police station; that after this was done the officers making the arrest returned to his home, and, without any warrant whatever, made a search of the residences of both Poulos and Fushanis; that Poulos was arrested in his store about 10 o'clock the same night, and that at about 10:30 p. m. these officers, without any search warrant, returned and made further search of these private dwellings. There is also some evidence indicating that a third search was later made on the same night. Testimony was offered by the government tending to prove that upon the first search the officers discovered a pasteboard box containing a half ounce of cocaine in the part of the basement occupied either by Poulos or Fushanis, and that upon the second search they found three crushed and empty tins with particles in the cracks, which witnesses examined and declared to be morphine. This pasteboard box of cocaine and these crushed and empty tins were offered and admitted in evidence over the objection of the...