Vogt v. United States, 11544.

• Decision Date: 06 July 1946
• Docket Number: No. 11544.,11544.
• Citation: 156 F.2d 308
• Parties: VOGT et al. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

156 F.2d 308 (1946)

VOGT et al. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 11544.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

July 6, 1946.

Percy Foreman, of Houston, Tex., for appellants.

Brian S. Odem, U. S. Atty., and Joseph W. Cash, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of Houston Tex., and Charles C. Bowie, of Brownsville, Tex., for appellee.

Before HUTCHESON, WALLER, and LEE, Circuit Judges.

WALLER, Circuit Judge.

The first count charges Defendants with smuggling 7½ pounds of marijuana with intent to defraud the United States of revenue; the second charges receiving, transporting, concealing, and facilitating the transportation and concealment of the marijuana, while the third count charges the Defendants with knowingly having in their possession and being the transferees of the same marijuana, on which the transfer tax had not been paid and which had been transferred without the use of the written order required for such transfer. The Court tried Defendants without a jury and found them not guilty under the first count and guilty under counts two and three.

The Defendants prayed that the indictment be quashed in all respects; or, in the alternative, that each count be quashed; and, in the third alternative, that "the prosecution be ordered and required to furnish these Defendants with a Bill of Particulars showing what the prosecution intends to prove as a basis for its alleged case and with reference to each particular count" and argue here that the Court erred in not requiring the Government to furnish such bill of particulars.

This motion was too general, too vague, and too broad. It was not error to overrule it. Moreover, it was not made to appear that the Defendants needed a bill of particulars in order to prepare their defense to counts two and three, and a failure to order the furnishing of a bill of particulars on count one cannot be assigned as prejudicial error in view of the fact that the Defendants were acquitted under that count.

The Defendants next argue that the indictment was defective in failing to allege from whom the marijuana was received or to allege that the name of the person who transferred it to them was unknown. This objection, directed to the third count of the indictment, overlooks the allegation in that count that the Defendants did "unlawfully, knowingly, and feloniously acquire, obtain, and receive from persons to the Grand Jurors unknown" a quantity of marijuana.

The Defendants then say that since the indictment alleged that the marijuana had been lately brought into this country from Mexico, it was error to find them guilty under such indictment in the absence of any proof to that effect. But if the admissions of the Defendants that the marijuana had been brought by a Mexican across the Rio Grande from Reynosa, Mexico, into Texas were admissible in evidence, this argument will fall. This question will be considered in connection with Defendants' further argument that the lower Court erred in overruling their motion for an instructed verdict on the ground that the corpus delicti had not been shown except by the extrajudicial, and inadmissible, confessions of the Defendants.

It is a well-known, and generally observed, rule that no conviction of an accused in a criminal case can be based solely on an uncorroborated confession. See Naftzger v. United States, 8 Cir., 200 F. 494, and cases cited therein. Antecedent to the receipt of a confession, the prosecution must prove the corpus delicti.

This Court, quoting from 6 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law, 2d Edition, p. 582, and from other authorities, in the case of Flower v. United States, 116 F. 241 text 247, announced the rule in this Circuit to be as follows:

"A conviction cannot be had on the extrajudicial confession of the defendant, unless corroborated by proof aliunde of the corpus delicti. Full, direct, and positive evidence, however, of the corpus delicti, is not indispensable. A confession will be sufficient if there be such extrinsic corroborative circumstances as will, when taken in connection with the confession, establish the prisoner's guilt in the minds of the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. (Emphasis added.)

* * * * *

"* * * full proof of the body of the crime, — the corpus delicti, — independently of the confession, is not required by any of the cases, and in many of them slight corroborating facts were held sufficient.

* * * * *

"All that can be required is that there should be corroborative evidence tending to prove the facts embraced in the confession; and where such evidence is introduced it belongs to the jury, under the instructions of the court, to determine upon its sufficiency."

In 14 Am.Jur. 758, § 6, it is said.

"Generally speaking, the term `corpus delicti' means, when applied to any particular offense, that the specific crime charged has actually been committed by someone. It is made up of two elements: (1) That a certain result has been produced, for example, a man has died or a building has been burned; and (2) that some person is criminally responsible for the act. It has been said that the corpus delicti consists of the facts that a crime has been committed and that the defendant was implicated in the crime. This definition, however, is inaccurate, since if true, all that would be necessary to convict of a crime would be to prove the...