Helen Haley and Evelyn Archer v. United States

Helen Haley and Evelyn Archer appeal from a judgment convicting them of two violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1381 (a) by harboring one Vaughan knowing him to be a deserter from military service and (b) refusing to give him up after the demand of an officer authorized to receive him.

Title 18 U.S.C. § 1381 , provides in pertinent part as follows:

The indictment had two counts. In the first it was against both appellees for harboring, etc., “the said Helen Haley and Evelyn Archer knowing the said James E. Vaughan was then and there a deserter from the United States Air Force.” (Emphasis supplied.) In the second it was “for failure to give up and deliver” Vaughan, a “deserter” after demand had been made upon them by “an officer duly authorized to receive” him. It is apparent that the burden of proof was on the prosecution as to both counts to show knowledge in each appellant that Vaughan was a deserter and as to the second count to show, in addition, that a demand was made on each appellant to give up and deliver him to an officer authorized to receive him.

While the sentence on the first count in each case was for but $100 on the first count with a suspension of sentence on the second…