United States v. Davis, 29779.
Citation | 443 F.2d 560 |
Decision Date | 02 July 1971 |
Docket Number | No. 29779.,29779. |
Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Irene DAVIS, Defendant-Appellant. |
Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
Craig Porter, San Angelo, Tex., for defendant-appellant.
Eldon B. Mahon, U. S. Atty., Fort Worth, Tex., Cecil Emerson, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Angelo, Tex., Charles D. Cabaniss, Asst. U. S. Atty., Dallas, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before JONES, BELL and SIMPSON, Circuit Judges.
Irene Davis has appealed her conviction of knowingly concealing and facilitating the transportation of heroin after it had been illegally imported into the United States in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 174. The appellant was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. On appeal she challenges the sufficiency of the evidence used to sustain her conviction.
Taking the view of the evidence most favorable to the Government to support the verdict, as we are required to do,1 the following facts appear from the record. Garfield Jefferson, a known drug addict and pusher, left Fort Worth, Texas, in October, 1969, in a borrowed truck, accompanied by the appellant. Evidence was admitted showing that information had been previously received by the Fort Worth police that Jefferson was going to Del Rio, Texas, on the Mexican border, to pick up some heroin. Prior to her arrest, the appellant was unknown to the Fort Worth police department and had no drug arrest record there. The truck was kept under surveillance by officers to San Angelo, Texas, where it was lost for some twelve hours. Surveillance was resumed in Del Rio. Jefferson was driving the truck. The truck left Del Rio and proceeded to an area below the Amistad Dam on the Rio Grande River. At this point, the truck was out of the sight of the officers for fifteen to twenty minutes. It returned to the view of the officers and proceeded from the dam area to Sonora, Texas, where it was stopped and searched by the officers. A package of heroin was found under the seat on the driver's side, lying loose on the floor of the truck.
Of importance in the Government's proof was the testimony of Cliff Wilson, Special Agent of the Bureau of Customs. On direct examination he gave the following testimony:
Still later Officer Wilson testified:
Wilson testified on cross-examination that independent of information he received from law enforcement officers at Fort Worth, he had received word from another source that Garfield Jefferson and an unknown Negro woman were going to the Del Rio area to pick up some heroin. During cross-examination, Wilson testified to the use in the narcotics traffic of the combination of a known addict and one relatively uninformed in methods of trafficking. In his testimony Wilson said:
In response to further questioning, on cross-examination Wilson testified:
Following an interruption by the court, and its caution not to volunteer any statement of Jefferson's, Agent Wilson testified he had elicited such statement from Jefferson "out of the presence" of Mrs. Davis, who was nearby, and after she had been placed under arrest, appellant's counsel by further questioning procured the verification of Wilson's prior statement that he, Wilson, thought appellant Davis was the "supervisor" of the addict Jefferson, based on information received from police and non-police informers. Wilson stated that this was a correct interpretation of his earlier statement, and was based on his past experience of dealing with heroin addicts.
Appellant Davis testified that she had lived with Jefferson for a number of years and was the mother of two of his children. She testified that she had on a number of occasions accompanied Jefferson on his "business trips" of delivering and picking up grease and oil. She continued to accompany him on some of his trips later, notwithstanding having "throwed him out." The appellant asserts that she had believed that this particular trip was just one of Jefferson's usual business trips. Mrs. Davis testified that despite their relationship she had never noticed the needle marks and scars on Jefferson's arms. She stated that she did not know he was a drug addict.
A judgment of conviction, which is attacked on the ground of insufficient evidence, will be sustained on appeal if the evidence taken most favorably for the Government supports the verdict. Cf. Glasser v. United States, supra. The Government is entitled to the benefit of all inferences sustaining the conviction that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. Moody v. United States, 5th Cir. 1967, 377 F.2d 175; Rua v. United States, 5th Cir. 1963, 321 F.2d 140, cert. denied 377 U.S. 969, 84 S.Ct. 1651, 12 L.Ed.2d 738; Riggs v. United States, 5th Cir. 1960, 280 F.2d 949.
The applicable law is thus stated:
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