John Wade Williams and Walter E. Elmer v. United States

The appellants John Wade Williams and Walter E. Elmer were indicted, tried and convicted of “Having in their possession a firearm as defined in Sec. 2733 (a) Title 26 United States Code, namely: One Winchester .22 calibre, single shot rifle of a barrel length of less than sixteen inches, did unlawfully fail to register said firearm with the collector of Internal Revenue for the Sixth Collection District of California, the District in which the defendants resided”.

The Defendants (Appellants here) were tried before the Court and found guilty.

At the threshold of this review it may be said that the evidence, as admitted by the trial Court, is sufficient to sustain the conviction unless there was error on the part of the Court in admitting in evidence the gun in question.

An examination of the record reveals the following, during the direct examination of Deputy Sheriff Neff:

The objection was overruled and the gun was offered and received in evidence without objection. Counsel for the appellants, however, contend here that the admission of the gun in evidence constitutes reversible error, upon the ground that the gun was seized in the course of an unlawful search in violation of…