Eugene Rayson v. United States

Rayson appeals from a judgment of the district court, sitting without a jury, finding him guilty on two counts of an indictment charging him with (1) receiving, concealing and transporting and facilitating the concealing and transporting of heroin, and (2) selling it and facilitating its sale both in violation of Section 174, Title 21 U.S.C.A. and sentencing him to three years’ imprisonment on each count, the sentences to run concurrently.

Appellant contends (a) that the court erred in admitting one Fletcher’s statements of what appellant said to him when he telephoned Fletcher, because the conversations were recorded on a recording device, though the recordings were not offered in evidence, and (b) that, assuming the telephone conversations were admissible, the evidence is insufficient to support either count on which he was convicted.

The government’s principal witness was one Fletcher, an informer who had been twice convicted of narcotics violations and who was thereafter arrested on a narcotics charge in Los Angeles but was not tried. Apparently he agreed to assist the government in the apprehension of narcotics sellers.

Fletcher testified that he contacted one Kelley (a…