Bernardino Chirez Hernandez v. United States

21 U.S.C. § 174 , 21 U.S.C.A. § 174 makes it a federal offense to import narcotic drugs illegally or to deal with such drugs knowing that they have been illegally imported. The statute provides that whenever the defendant is shown “to have * * * possession” of nar cotic drugs, “such possession” shall be sufficient to convict unless explained to the satisfaction of the jury. We have held in earlier cases that a defendant has “possession” of narcotic drugs within the meaning of the statute whenever the evidence, direct or circumstantial, shows that he personally shared physical custody of the narcotic drugs or had dominion and control over them. We hold in the present case that a defendant does not “have possession” of narcotic drugs within the meaning of the statute when he has neither personal physical custody nor control over the drugs, although he has engaged in a common scheme or plan with a third person, not on trial, who did have such personal custody or control of narcotic drugs.

I

We turn first to the circumstances of the present case.

Defendant and Jesus Joseph Correa were charged with violations of 21 U.S.C. § 174 , 21 U.S.C.A. § 174 in a three-count indictment. Count…