United States v. Bookbinder

281 F. 207, 1922 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1466
District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided May 4, 1922·No. No. 78·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

THOMPSON, District Judge.

The defendant was convicted upon an indictment containing two counts. The first count charged unlawful possession of intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes at premises occupied and used by the defendant as a restaurant in violation of the provisions of the National Prohibition Act (41 Stat. 305). The reasons filed, assigning error in connection with the charge under that count, have been withdrawn by the attorney for the defendant. The second count charged an offense under R. S. § 3082 (Comp. St. § 5785), in that the defendant willfully, unlawfully, fraudulently, and knowingly received and concealed intoxicating liquor, knowing the same to have been imported into the United States contrary to law from a foreign port, without a permit for such importation having been issued therefor, as provided in the National Prohibition Act and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto, without having been examined by a duly authorized official of the Treasury Department of the United States as provided by law, and without payment of the duty required by law to be paid upon the importation and bringing in of such merchandise.

At the conclusion of the goverfiment’s evidence the district attorney was required to elect whether he would press for conviction upon the ground that the liquor alleged to have been received and concealed, and known to the defendant to have been imported contrary to law, was so imported contrary to the National Prohibition Act, or contrary to the customs laws, in view of the charge that the liquor was imported without the payment of duties. The district attorney elected to proceed upon the ground that the liquor received and concealed was liquor known to have been imported in violation of the National Prohibition Act, thus being confined to relying upon its being liquor for beverage purposes, and therefore not subject to payment of duty, as would be the case with liquor imported under a permit for nonbeverage purposes.

The liquor in question had been seized under a search warrant issued under the provisions of R. S. § 3066 (Comp. St. § 5769), which gives authority to customs officers who shall have cause to suspect a concealment of merchandise in any particular dwelling house, store, building, or other place to enter such house, store, or other place, upon a search warrant and search for such merchandise, and, if any shall be found, to seize and secure the same for trial. The validity of the search warrant was sustained by Judge Dickinson upon a motion to quash, in an opinion reported in 278 Fed. 216. Thereafter and before trial a motion to suppress the evidence consisting of the seized liquors was denied by the writer; it being held under the authority of Gouled v. United States, 255 U. S. 298, 41 Sup. Ct. 261, 65 L. Ed. 647, that, as tire liquor, was seized under a valid search warrant, it could lawfully be used as evidence by the government in a prosecution for a different offense than that charged against the defendant in- the affidavit upon [209]*209which the search warrant was issued. At the trial the objections of the defendant’s counsel to the admission of evidence obtained through the execution of the search warrant were overruled in accordance with the previous rulings upon the motion to quash and the motion to suppress evidence. The alleged error based upon these rulings has been disposed of in the opinions previously filed, and requires no further discussion by this court.

[1] Upon the present motion in arrest of judgment upon the second count of the indictment, it is contended that the count does not set out an indictable offense, because it but duplicates the charge under the National Prohibition Act of possessing liquor set out in the first count, and because the offense charged under R. S. § 3082, is no longer in force and effect, because it is completely covered by the National Prohibition Act and therefore is impliedly repealed. Under R. S. § 3082, the necessary ingredients of the offense are (1) importation contrary to law; (2) receipt and concealment of such merchandise imported contrary to law; (3) knowledge on the part of the defendant that the merchandise was imported contrary to law. The phrase “contrary to law” is not confined in its application to customs laws, but refers to legal provisions other than those found in this section. Rogers v. United States, 180 Fed. 54, 103 C. C. A. 408, 31 L. R. A. (N. S.) 264; United States v. Chesbrough (D. C.) 176 Fed. 778; Estes v. United States, 227 Fed. 818, 142 C. C. A. 342; United States v. Claflin, Fed. Cas. No. 14,798; United States v. Thomas, Fed. Cas. No. 16,473.

[2] Under the National Prohibition Act the importation of intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes is prohibited, and nonbeverage liquors may only be imported under the authority of a permit. It follows that the section includes importation contrary to the National Prohibition Act, unless, as contended by the counsel for the defendant, the receiving and concealing of unlawfully imported intoxicating beverages is within the provisions of the National Prohibition Act providing against nossession of intoxicating liquor. Section 3 of title 2 provides as follows:

“No person shall * * * possess any Intoxicating liquor except as authorized in this act.”

No specific penalty is provided for possession in violation of the Prohibition Act, and the penalty therefore comes under the general provisions of section 29, title 2, imposing a fine for a first offense of not more than $500 upon any person violating any of the provisions of the title, for which offense a specific penalty is not prescribed. If receiving and concealing is identical in its meaning with possessing, or if possession is inclusive of 'receiving and concealing, we must concede under the authority of United States v. Yuginovich, 256 U. S. 450, 41 Sup. Ct. 551, 65 L. Ed. 1043, that Congress did not intend to preserve, as to intoxicating liquors received and concealed with knowledge that they were imnorted contrary to the Volstead Act, the penalty prescribed in section 3082, in addition to the provision for punishment for possession made in the Volstead Act. In the above case the offenses under consideration were those created bv section 3257, Rev. Stats. (Comp. St. § 5993), making it an offense for one engaged in the business of [210]*210distilling spirits subject to internal revenue tax to defraud or attempt to defraud the United States of the tax on the said spirits, and section 35 of the Volstead Law, which imposes a penalty for any illegal manufacture or sale of a tax in double the amount now provided by law, with an additional penalty of $1,000 on manufacturers.

The National Prohibition Law prohibits importation, and imposes a penalty for importation; but the defendant is not charged with importation. He is charged with receiving and concealing, and, disregarding as surplusage, under the election of the district attorney, the charge that no duties were paid upon the importation, he is not charged with receiving and concealing contrary to laws which have been held to be repealed or superseded by the National Prohibition Act as inconsistent therewith.

To receive describes simply the act of taking. To conceal means to hide or withdraw from observation; to prevent the discovery of; to withhold knowledge of.

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United States v. Bookbinder, 281 F. 207, 1922 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1466 (E.D. Pa. 1922).

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