(DOWNLOAD) "United States v. Soto" by Fifth Circuit United States Court Of Appeals ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: United States v. Soto
- Author : Fifth Circuit United States Court Of Appeals
- Release Date : January 22, 1979
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 66 KB
Description
This appeal is from judgments of conviction entered against the appellants after a jury trial. Each of the fifteen appellants was accused and convicted of conspiring to import marijuana into the United States in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 963 (Count I); conspiring to possess marijuana with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (Count II); actual possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Count III); and actual importation of marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952(a) and 960(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Count IV). Appellant Quintana was sentenced to imprisonment for concurrent terms of four years and received concurrent special parole terms of two years on each count. The other fourteen appellants were each sentenced to imprisonment for concurrent terms of three years and received concurrent special parole terms of two years on each count. The issues on appeal are: (1) whether the District Court properly denied Sosa's and Villalba's motions to suppress evidence of the marijuana found in the vans they were driving; (2) whether samples of marijuana, taken from bales which were randomly selected from the total amount confiscated, were properly admitted into evidence; (3) whether there was prejudicial variance between the crime charged in the indictment and the proof adduced at trial; (4) whether the District Court properly denied the motions for mistrial made by thirteen of the appellants when counsel for Alvarez and Alvila made certain statements in his closing argument; and (5) whether the convictions are supported by sufficient evidence. We find no merit in the appellants' first four arguments, but we find the claim that there was insufficient evidence meritorious with regard to all four counts in the cases against Quintana and Rivero and with regard to the two importation counts in the cases against the thirteen other appellants. Hence, we reverse the convictions on all four counts against Quintana and Rivero, reverse the convictions on the two importation counts against the thirteen other appellants, but affirm the convictions on the two possession counts against those same thirteen.
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