Ruth Etta Witt v. United States

Appellant, a first offender, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for importing two and one-quarter ounces of heroin from Mexico, in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 174 . She asserts (1) that the narcotics were obtained by an unlawful search and seizure; and should have been suppressed on appellant’s motion; (2) without the narcotics in evidence, there was insufficient evidence to convict her; (3) 26 U.S.C.A. § 7237 (d) prohibiting suspension of sentence in order to grant probation in certain narcotics offenses, in its unequal operation (by giving the United States Attorney a choice of the crime for which he asks an indictment), results in lack of due process.

Appellant admittedly had narcotics on her person when she crossed the border from Mexico to the United States. She asserts they were there innocently, that she was asked by a friend in Mexico to deliver a package in Los Angeles to a certain street corner to a person named “Bo.” She had asked her “friend” in Mexico if delivering the package “was all right”, and had been assured it was. She claimed to have had no knowledge the package contained narcotics. Appellant insisted the narcotics package was in her coat pocket; the…