Robert Lewis Eason and Kenneth Lamoyne Nowlin v. United States

Narcotics were found secreted in appellants’ car. Appellants denied knowledge of the presence -of the narcotics and established the possibility that they could have been secreted by others without knowledge of appellants. Under the circumstances, could the jury properly infer from the presence of the narcotics that appellants had knowledge of such presence? We hold, under the circumstances of this case, that such inference was available.

This appeal is taken from judgment of conviction of the crime of illegal importation into the United States of marihuana (21 U.S.C.A. § 176a) and of seconal and amphetamine tablets ( 18 U.S.C. § 545 ). Each cited section renders unlawful importation “knowingly” and with “intent to defraud the United States.” Each section provides that possession shall be deemed sufficient evidence to authorize conviction unless explained to the satisfaction of the jury. Possession, however, must be such as to establish both control over the subject and knowledge of its presence. Evans v. United States, 9 Cir., 1958, 257 F.2d 121, 128 , certiorari denied 358 U.S. 866 , 79 S.Ct. 98 , 3 L.Ed.2d 99 .

Appellants contend that the record does not contain any evidence…