Oras v. United States

67 F.2d 463, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4509
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 13, 1933
DocketNo. 7131
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 67 F.2d 463 (Oras v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oras v. United States, 67 F.2d 463, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4509 (9th Cir. 1933).

Opinion

WILBUR, Circuit Judge.

The defendants were indicted for a conspiracy to violate the National Prohibition Act and the internal revenue laws, specifically, for a violation of section 3289 of the Revised Statutes (26 USCA § 266), a violation of section 3282, Revised Statutes (26 USCA § 307), and a violation of section 3, title 2 of the National Prohibition Act (27 USCA § 12). The offenses were charged in four counts in the indictment, and the appellants were all convicted on all the counts.

As to the appellants other than Swalwell, there is no serious question as to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. Briefly outlined, this evidence shows that on the night of January 20, 1932, between 10 and 11 o’clock, prohibition officers discovered a distillery in operation on Whidby Island, about three hundred yards off the county road on the bank of a small lake. A 350-gallon still was in active operation; a smaller 60-gallon still, a square tank, was not in operation. There were twelve vats, or mash barrels, of approximately 350 gallons [465]*465capacity each, ten of which contained mash (3,500 gallons in all), and eight 5-gallon cans of alcohol. After nailing up the door of one of the buildings, the prohibition officers left for the purpose of obtaining tools to wreck the plant. They returned about 3 :30 a. m., but during their absence 89 sacks of sugar, some yeast, and various other materials had been removed from the building whieh was entered by prying open the door. They followed the tracks of automobiles leading from the building and discovered the appellant Oras drunk and asleep in a coupé whose tracks they had followed from the door of the distillery. They also found a truck, similarly tracked, in which the appellant Richards was asleep. On being awakened, Oras stated that he had been running the still' and that Richards had been doing his hauling for him and had hauled the sugar away that night. After the arrest of Oras and Richards, appellant Hogstedt claimed the eoupé in which Oras was arrested. In his talk with investigator Reagan, Hogstedt admitted that he financed the still operations, and stated that he had furnished $700 therefor to appellant Swalwell. The land upon which the still was located had been recently purchased by appellant Moran, who was on the land and received there the lumber used in the erection of the still house.

The second assignment of error of the appellants other than Swalwell is that the court erred in allowing testimony of Mr. Sherwood, assistant United States attorney, and Leonard Reagan, a prohibition investigator in the federal service, as to statements made to them after the raid relating to Swalwell’s connection with the conspiracy. As far as this testimony related to the transactions between Hogstedt and Swalwell, Hogstedt’s admissions were properly admissible in evidence against him. The court instructed the jury at the. time the evidence was adduced that the evidence should be disregarded by them as far as Swalwell was concerned, and should be considered only against the defendants in whose presence it was made or the defendant by whom it was made. There was no error in this ruling.

The third assignment by the appellants, other than Swalwell, related to the testimony concerning the possession by Swalwell of a half pint of alcohol whieh he took to a chemist for analysis. The only objection made was that the testimony was not rebuttal. This objection was sustained, but the court, in the exercise of its discretion as to the order of proof, subsequently permitted a single question. No objection was offered to this question.

The fourth assignment of error is that the court erred in denying the defendants’ motion for a new trial. The action of the court in denying the motion for a new trial in this case is not reviewable on appeal; there being no abuse of discretion.

Appellants’ fifth, sixth, and seventh assignments of error relate to certain instructions given by the trial court. These instructions were not objected to, and consequently the alleged error in giving them cannot be reviewed by this court. It may be said in this connection that the' trial judge called the attention of counsel to the fact that it was necessary for them to specifically object to the instructions in order to secure a proper exception, and that this was not done.

The last assignment of the appellants, other than Swalwell, was a general one that the court erred in entering a judgment and sentence on the verdict. This assignment is not discussed in the brief, and, in any event, is too general to merit consideration.

The evidence against Fred Swalwell.consisted of the above-mentioned admissions and declarations made by defendant Hogstedt to the government agents. These declarations were to the effect that Hogstedt had given Swalwell $700 to finance the distillery operations, and that Hogstedt was to accept payment therefor in alcohol produced by the distilling operations. These statements were not made in furtherance of the conspiracy, and were therefore not admissible against Swalwell on the theory that he was a coeonspirator. Tofanelli v. U. S. (C. C. A.) 28 F.(2d) 581; Collenger v. U. S. (C. C. A.) 50 F.(2d) 345; Underhill on Criminal Evidence (3d Ed.) § 719.

Only two other items of evidence were adduced in support of the indictment so far as appellant Swalwell is concerned. It was shown that he introduced appellant Moran to the real estate. agent from whom the land was purchased which was subsequently used for the erection of the still. There is no showing that he knew anything concerning the purposes for which the land was being purchased or was subsequently used other than the hearsay declarations of Hogstedt. The other item of proof relied upon by the government is the testimony of a chemist that Swalwell employed him to analyze a half pint of alcohol whieh Swalwell testified he had had analyzed for his own use. If we eliminate, as we should, the consideration of the [466]*466hearsay evidence, the remaining evidence merely showing the introduction of one of the conspirators to the agent who subsequently sold the conspirators land used in their operations, and the admission by the appellant Swalwell that he had procured an analysis of a half pint of alcohol, were wholly insufficient to establish his guilt or to show any connection with the criminal conspiracy. The appellant Swalwell did nqt move for an instructed verdict at the conclusion of the testimony, and ordinarily would thereby be precluded from presenting to this court the question of whether or not there was sufficient evidence to justify his conviction. We think, however, that, even in the absence of such a motion, the matter should be given consideration in connection with other questions whieh were raised by this appellant. At the time the declarations of Hogstedt were received in evidence, the defendant Swalwell requested the court to instruct the jury that the evidence was not admissible as to him, and in pursuance of this’request such instruction was given. The defendant apparently relied upon this ruling, and refrained from making a similar objection or request when the witness Sherwood testified.

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Bluebook (online)
67 F.2d 463, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oras-v-united-states-ca9-1933.