Major Cook and James Harold Jackson v. United States

The appellants were charged in the court below under an indictment alleging that they had entered into a conspiracy and conspired to violate §§ 173 and 174 of Title 21 U.S.C., which conspiracy was to receive and conceal certain amounts of narcotic drugs after the said drugs had been imported and brought into the United States, knowing the same had been imported and brought into the United States contrary to law. After trial a verdict of guilty was returned by the jury as to each defendant. After sentence of imprisonment was imposed upon each of them they appealed to this court.

The only specifications of error which we need note here are that the court improperly advised the jury that they might find the narcotic drugs in question were illegally imported into the United States to the knowledge of the defendants and that there was no proof of the character of the alleged contraband.

Section 174 of Title 21 U.S.C., under which this indictment was found, provides as follows: “Whenever on trial for a violation of this section the defendant is shown to have or to have had possession of the narcotic drug, such possession shall be deemed sufficient evidence to authorize conviction…