Vlassis v. United States

• Decision Date: 02 February 1925
• Docket Number: No. 4253.,4253.
• Citation: 3 F.2d 905
• Parties: VLASSIS v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

3 F.2d 905 (1925)

VLASSIS v. UNITED STATES.

No. 4253.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

February 2, 1925.

Geo. Vlassis, in pro. per.

George T. Wilson, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Phœnix, Ariz.

Before GILBERT, ROSS, and HUNT, Circuit Judges.

ROSS, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff in error was defendant to three indictments filed in the court below, the first of which was numbered C-1797, which charged, in effect, that he and two other named persons on the 1st day of January, 1923, continuously from that date to and including January 7th of the same year, within the jurisdiction of the court below, willfully and feloniously conspired together and with other persons to the grand jurors unknown to import cocaine into the United States, and to conceal it therein after such importation, in violation of the Act of Congress of February 9, 1919, as amended by that of May 26, 1922, and the indictment alleged various overt acts of the plaintiff in error in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy.

The next indictment, numbered C-1798, alleged in its first count that the plaintiff in error and the other named parties did on the 7th day of January, 1923, within the jurisdiction of the court below, willfully and feloniously deal in cocaine without first having registered with the collector of internal revenue for the district of Arizona, or with any other collector of such revenue, as required by the Act of Congress of December 17, 1914 (Comp. St. § 6287g et seq.), as amended by that of February 24, 1919 (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, §§ 6287g, 6287l), and without first having paid the special tax provided therefor. The second count of that indictment alleged that the plaintiff in error and the other named parties on the same day of January, 1923, and within the jurisdiction of the court below, did willfully and feloniously import and bring into the United States, and assist in so doing, 200 ounces of cocaine. Its third count alleged that the plaintiff in error and the other named parties, on the same day and within the jurisdiction of the court below, did willfully and feloniously receive and conceal and facilitate the transportation and concealment of 200 ounces of cocaine after the importation thereof into the United States; they, the said plaintiff in error and the other specifically mentioned parties, then and there well knowing the said cocaine to have been imported and brought into this country contrary to law.

The indictment numbered C-1802 alleged that the plaintiff in error and the other specifically mentioned parties, on the 1st day of December, 1922, continuously from that date to and including January 7th, 1923, within the district of Arizona and elsewhere at places unknown to the grand jurors, willfully and feloniously conspired together, and with other persons to the grand jurors unknown, to import, deal in, dispense, sell, distribute, and give away morphine and cocaine without first registering...