Bonner v. United States

46 F.2d 619, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 2458
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 9, 1931
DocketNos. 8877, 8878
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 46 F.2d 619 (Bonner v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bonner v. United States, 46 F.2d 619, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 2458 (8th Cir. 1931).

Opinion

MUNGER, District Judge.

Appellant was convicted and sentenced for violations of the National Prohibition Act (27 USCA). He was tried under two indictments, consolidated for purposes of the trial. One indictment charged, in the first count, the unlawful possession of a half gallon of whisky on October 26, 1929. The second count charged the unlawful transportation of a half gallon of whisky on the same date. The third count charged an unlawful sale of a half gallon of whisky on the same date.

In the other indictment, the first count charged the unlawful possession of a half gallon of whisky on November 14, 1929, and the second count charged the unlawful sale of a half gallon of whisky on that date.

At the close of the evidence the appellant asked the court to instruct the jury to find a verdict of not guilty on each count in the indictments, and he assigns error in the refusal of the requests, claiming that the evidence was insufficient to show his guilt.

There was testimony on behalf of the United States and in support of the first indictment which tended to show that the owner of a local garage accompanied a federal prohibition agent and an assistant to the appellant’s residence at the time and place alleged. After some negotiations, the appellant agreed to sell a half gallon of whisky to the prohibition agent, but told the agent to return and to wait at the garage and that he would bring the liquor there. The agent returned to the garage and the appellant soon drove into the garage and delivered the whisky to the agent and received payment for it. In support of the second indictment there was testimony which tended to show that the prohibition agent and his assistant drove to the appellant’s residence at the time and place alleged and the agent asked the appellant for a half gallon of whisky. The appellant answered that he had about a half gallon, but that it was not at the house. Appellant told a man to go and got the liquor and described where it was, under some grass. The man returned in about fifteen minutes with the whisky in a fruit jar. There was some dirt and grass on the jar and the appellant directed the man to clean this off by washing it at a sink. The liquor was then delivered by the appellant to the prohibition agent and the agreed price was paid. These facts constituted substantial evidence of the [620]*620unlawful sales, transportation of liquor, and of possession of it by the appellant.

It is claimed that the sentences for unlawful possession were erroneous because the possession was a mere incident of, and was included in, the offenses of unlawful sale. A contention of a similar nature was before the Supreme Court of the United States in Alhrecht v. United States, 273 U. S. 1, 47 S. Ct. 250, 253, 71 L. Ed. 505, and in disposing of it the court said:

“There is a claim of violation of the Fifth Amendment by the imposition of double punishment. This contention rests upon the following facts. Of the nine counts in the information four charged illegal possession of liquor, four illegal sale, and one maintaining a common nuisance. The contention is that there was double punishment because the liquor which the defendants were convicted for having sold is the same that they were convicted for having possessed. Buti possessing and selling are distinct offenses. One may obviously possess without selling, and one may sell and cause to be delivered a thing of which he has never had possession, or one may have possession and later sell, as appears to have been done in this ease. The fact that the person sells the liquor which he possessed does not render the possession and the sale necessarily a single offense. There is nothing in the Constitution which prevents Congress from punishing separately each step leading to the consummation of a transaction which it has power to prohibit and punishing also the 'completed transaction. The precise question does not appear to have been discussed in either this or a lower federal court in connection with the National Prohibition Act; but the general principle is well established. Compare Burton v. United States, 202 U. S. 344, 377, 26 S. Ct. 688, 50 L. Ed. 1057, 6 Ann. Cas. 362; Gavieres v. United States, 220 U. S. 338, 31 S. Ct. 421, 55 L. Ed. 489; Morgan v. Devine, 237 U. S. 632, 35 S. Ct. 712, 59 L. Ed. 1153.”

This portion of the decision in. the Albrecht Case has since been referred to in many cases in the federal courts in determining when an unlawful possession of an article is a mere incident of another offense, and when the possession is a separate offense. See Leonard v. United States (C. C. A.) 18 F.(2d) 208; Gatti v. United States (C. C. A.) 35 F.(2d) 959; Clayman v. Smithers (C. C. A.) 18 F.(2d) 955, 956; Nordelli v. United States (C. C. A.) 24 F.(2d) 665; Marco v. United States (C. C. A.) 26 F.(2d) 315. It was a subject of discussion by this court in Berry v. United States, 18 F.(2d) 276; Hadley v. United States, 18 F.(2d) 507; Cain v. United States, 19 F.(2d) 472; Porter v. United States, 31 F.(2d) 544; Walsh v. White, 32 F.(2d) 240. An examination of the,record of the trial in the Albrecht Case shows that the defendants Albrecht, Albrecht, and Maher were convicted upon evidence which was substantially as follows: The Albrechts maintained a place of business in East St. Louis, 111., in a storeroom about thirty feet wide by seventy-five feet in length. On one side of that room there was a bar, such as is used for serving drinks. A partition at the rear end of this room separated it from another room, but entrance could be had to the rear room through doors in this partition. At the time o.f the transactions described by the witnesses, one of the Albrechts was in the storeroom, but all the dealings had by the government’s witnesses were with Maher, who acted as a bartendex. Count 3 of the information charged an illegal sale of a half pint of whisky on February 16, 1924, and count 7 the illegal possession of a half pint of whisky on that date. Count 1 of the information charged an illegal sale of two drinks of whisky on February 19, 1924, and count 5 the illegal possession of a half pint of whisky on that date. Count 2 charged an illegal sale of two drinks and a half pint of whisky on February 20, 1924, and count 6, the illegal possession of a half pint of whisky on that date. Count ’4 charged an illegal sale of a half pint of whisky on February 27, 1924, and count 8, the illegal possession of a half pint of whisky on that date. The defendants were found guilty on each count. The evidence on behalf of the United States was undisputed, and as to counts 3 and 7, it showed that on February 16,1924, two of the witnesses for the government entered the bar room, and observed four or five men in front of the bar who were being served by this bartender with “colored spirits” in whisky glasses, which the bartender had carried out from the rear room. One of the witnesses asked for drinks of whisky, and the bartender went into the rear room and brought out two glasses full of whisky, which he served to the witnesses, and which they paid for and drank. One of the witnesses then asked for a half pint, and the bartender “went into the rear and filled up a half pint bottle or got one already filled and delivered it” to the purchasers. “When the bartender went into the rear room to get it, he came out immediately.”

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Bluebook (online)
46 F.2d 619, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 2458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bonner-v-united-states-ca8-1931.