Young v. United States

• Decision Date: 29 January 1962
• Docket Number: No. 17371.,17371.
• Citation: 297 F.2d 593
• Parties: Willie YOUNG, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

297 F.2d 593 (1962)

Willie YOUNG, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 17371.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

January 5, 1962.

Rehearing Denied January 29, 1962.

Julian C. Dewell, Seattle, Wash., for appellant.

Charles P. Moriarty, U. S. Atty., Jeremiah M. Long, Douglas M. Fryer, Asst. U. S. Attys., Seattle, Wash., for appellee.

Before MERRILL and KOELSCH, Circuit Judges, and SOLOMON, District Judge.

SOLOMON, District Judge.

Willie Young appealed from a judgment of conviction and sentence imposed after a jury found him guilty on nine counts of an indictment charging him with violating federal narcotics laws.¹

In 1958, John Sousa, a narcotics addict and informer, told federal narcotics agents in Seattle, Washington, that appellant was selling heroin. On May 1, 2 and 8 of that year, these agents, together with Seattle police officers, searched Sousa, gave him marked money, and then transported him to a point near the apartment in which appellant resided.

On May 1, the agents watched Sousa from the time he left them until he disappeared inside the apartment building and from the time he came out until he rejoined them. Some of them saw appellant open the outer door of the apartment building when Sousa entered. This door opened into a hall which led to two apartments, one of which appellant occupied. Sousa came out of the apartment a few moments after entering, and again the agents saw appellant open the outer door. Sousa returned directly to the agents and delivered to them a small package of white powder later identified as heroin. On May 2, they saw Sousa enter the outer apartment door, and a few moments later leave through the same door with a package of heroin.

On May 8, Sousa made a similar purchase, but on this occasion, as Sousa was leaving, the narcotics agents entered the apartment and arrested the appellant. One of the officers testified that a warrant for appellant's arrest had previously been issued. In the search which accompanied this arrest, the agents found $85 in marked currency which they had furnished Sousa on May 1 and 2, as well as on May 8, to purchase heroin from appellant. A portion of the money was found on appellant's person and the balance on the floor nearby.

The appellant did not testify nor did he present any evidence.

Appellant contends that the District Court erred in failing to give a specific instruction as to the credibility of an informer. Although appellant did not offer such an instruction and did not object to the court's general instructions on the credibility of witnesses, he asserts that the failure to give such an instruction was plain error and may be raised on appeal under Rule 52(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.

Although it may be error to refuse a specific instruction on the credibility of an informer where one is offered, particularly where the defendant is not connected with the crime by independent evidence, Fletcher v. United States, 1946, 81 U.S.App.D.C. 306, 158 F. 2d 321; United States v. Masino, 2 Cir. 1960, 275 F.2d 129; it is not error to omit a specific instruction regarding an informer's testimony if none is requested and there are no objections to the court's instructions. Cratty v. United States, 1947, 82 U.S.App.D.C. 236, 163 F.2d 844; Walker v. United States, 5 Cir. 1960, 285 F.2d 52; see also Mims v. United States, 9 Cir. 1958, 254 F.2d 654. In this case, unlike Fletcher, the informer's testimony was corroborated in practically every detail by the federal narcotics agents and the Seattle policemen who participated in appellant's arrest and by the bindles of heroin and the marked money which were received in...