Bernard Stein v. United States

Stein has been convicted upon two narcotics counts and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on each count, the sentences to run concurrently. The defendant waived a jury.

Both counts were under 21 U.S.C.A. § 174 . The date of the alleged event was March 24, 1957, and the place of it on Ilona Street near Beverly Glen Boulevard. (A nearby thoroughfare better known than Ilona is Pico Boulevard.) The first count charged that Stein did “receive, conceal and transport, and facilitate the concealment and transportation” of about one ounce and 253 grains of heroin. The second count charged that he did “sell and facilitate the sale” of the same heroin.

One of the defendant’s main points on appeal is that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the charge (the first count) of receiving, concealing and transporting or facilitating the accomplishment thereof. We disagree, but do not discuss the point in detail because it is now established in federal jurisprudence beyond cavil that if the conviction is good on either count, when identical concurrent sentences are imposed, then the appellate court is not to concern it self with the alleged weaknesses on one count, if the other count is good.…