Reger v. United States, 226
| Decision Date | 02 January 1931 |
| Docket Number | No. 226,227.,226 |
| Citation | 46 F.2d 38 |
| Parties | REGER v. UNITED STATES. CEFALU v. SAME. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Robert D. Charlton, of Denver, Colo. , for appellants.
Charles E. Works, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Denver, Colo. (Ralph L. Carr, U. S. Atty., of Antonito, Colo., on the brief), for appellee.
Before LEWIS, COTTERAL, and McDERMOTT, Circuit Judges.
The appellants bring separate appeals from conviction under an indictment which charged them and others with a conspiracy to manufacture and possess whisky at the Vaughn Ranch, in Weld County, Colo.
A main contention of the appellants is that insufficient evidence was adduced at the trial to establish the conspiracy, and particularly it was not shown by violations of the Prohibition Act, nor by mere knowledge of and acquiescence in the operation of the still.
Concededly, the unlawful agreement was essential to the guilt of appellants, and more was required than proof of the commission of a substantive offense against the act. But the evidence in the record was ample to sustain the charge against the appellants.
In the first place it was shown without dispute that a large still was located and operated in a barn at the ranch. Some one or more parties must have been concerned in the enterprise. The issue before the jury was whether the appellants combined to engage in it. There was testimony that Reger hired a woman as a cook at the ranch and paid her for her services, that she cooked meals for the employees thereon, that Reger took supplies to the ranch, that he assisted in installing the still and gave orders for running it, that both appellants employed a man for this purpose and accompanied him when he hauled twelve cases of whisky from the still to Denver, that Reger helped to operate the still and Cefalu to repair it, that Reger warned a party away from the barn on account of bad dogs, that Reger paid for hauling sugar, yeast, and kegs to the place, that Cefalu drank a good deal of whisky there, that they were frequently at the still; and that they asked another party how long he thought they could run the still.
The appellants denied the conspiracy and the incriminating testimony, and sought to discredit the opposing witnesses. They admitted that they visited the ranch and Cefalu that he drank whisky there, but they sought to account for these visits as occurring while they were hunting in the locality.
It cannot be doubted that the evidence in behalf of the government, if credited, together with the inferences reasonably to be drawn from it, was sufficient to establish the...
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