United States v. Luther Ernest Hendrix

Fifth Circuit

United States v. Luther Ernest Hendrix

487 F.2d 893, 1973 U.S. App. LEXIS 6971

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

DecidedNovember 16, 1973

Docket73-2701

StatusPublished

Cited by3 cases

This text of 487 F.2d 893 (United States v. Luther Ernest Hendrix) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

United States v. Luther Ernest Hendrix, 487 F.2d 893, 1973 U.S. App. LEXIS 6971 (5th Cir. 1973).

Pincite

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Luther Ernest Hendrix was convicted of violations of 26 U.S.C. § 5601(a)(1) and § 5601(a)(4) and 26 U. S.C. § 5686 and received a five year sentence on each count, sentences to run concurrently. On this appeal he alleges insufficiency of the evidence on all counts. However, the evidence, viewed most favorably to the government, is sufficient to sustain a conviction for violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5601(a)(4), carrying on the business of a distillery, “[ajn offense which is one of the most comprehensive of the criminal statutes designed to stop the production and sale of untaxed liquor.” United States v. Gainey, 380 U.S. 63, 85 S.Ct. 754, 12 L.Ed. 2d 658 (1965). We therefore affirm.

Testimony was adduced indicating that Hendrix was present continuously for two days at a house in a remote and rustic area of Georgia. An illicit still was located fifty yards behind the house concealed in sylvan surroundings. An electrical wire from the house fuse box was connected to a water pump in a nearby brook. The water pipe from the pump supplied the still. When the dogs barked and once when a truck passed, Hendrix would come out of the house and search the area surrounding it. The evening before his arrest, he was observed unloading twelve sixty-pound bales containing sacks of sugar from the trunk of a car and placing them in a shed near the house. The next day, after arresting Hendrix, the revenue officers discovered that the sugar was missing from the shed and that there were hand truck tracks leading from the shed to the still. Finally, the agents determined that sugar had recently been added to the mash in the still.

Reasonably minded jurors could have concluded that this evidence was *895 sufficient to prove a violation of 26 U. S.C. § 5601(a)(4) beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, since concurrent sentences were imposed, we need not determine whether the evidence was sufficient to convict on the other counts.

Affirmed.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

PER CURIAM:

Luther Ernest Hendrix was convicted of violations of 26 U.S.C. § 5601(a)(1) and § 5601(a)(4) and 26 U. S.C. § 5686 and received a five year sentence on each count, sentences to run concurrently. On this appeal he alleges insufficiency of the evidence on all counts. However, the evidence, viewed most favorably to the government, is sufficient to sustain a conviction for violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5601(a)(4), carrying on the business of a distillery, “[ajn offense which is one of the most comprehensive of the criminal statutes designed to stop the production and sale of untaxed liquor.” United States v. Gainey, 380 U.S. 63, 85 S.Ct. 754, 12 L.Ed. 2d 658 (1965). We therefore affirm.

Testimony was adduced indicating that Hendrix was present continuously for two days at a house in a remote and rustic area of Georgia. An illicit still was located fifty yards behind the house concealed in sylvan surroundings. An electrical wire from the house fuse box was connected to a water pump in a nearby brook. The water pipe from the pump supplied the still. When the dogs barked and once when a truck passed, Hendrix would come out of the house and search the area surrounding it. The evening before his arrest, he was observed unloading twelve sixty-pound bales containing sacks of sugar from the trunk of a car and placing them in a shed near the house. The next day, after arresting Hendrix, the revenue officers discovered that the sugar was missing from the shed and that there were hand truck tracks leading from the shed to the still. Finally, the agents determined that sugar had recently been added to the mash in the still.

Reasonably minded jurors could have concluded that this evidence was *895 sufficient to prove a violation of 26 U. S.C. § 5601(a)(4) beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, since concurrent sentences were imposed, we need not determine whether the evidence was sufficient to convict on the other counts.

Affirmed.

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)

487 F.2d 893, 1973 U.S. App. LEXIS 6971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-luther-ernest-hendrix-ca5-1973.

Opinion

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack