John Lee Gabriel v. United States

Appellant, John Lee Gabriel, and one Frank V. Esposito were indicted for receiving, concealing, selling, and facilitating the transportation, concealment, and sale of 2,020 grams of márihuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 176a (Count I). Gabriel was also indicted on two additional counts of receiving, concealing, and facilitating the transportation and concealment of a three-gram vial of marihuana (Count II) and a marihuana cigarette (Count III). Esposito pleaded guilty. Gabriel, after a jury trial, was convicted on Counts I and II and acquitted on Count III, and brings this appeal.

Gabriel was sentenced to concurrent seven-year prison terms on each of the two counts on which he was convicted, and the record discloses no reason to think that appellant was prejudiced by a trial on multiple counts or that the sentence was greater than it would have been in separate trials. We therefore confine our examination to the regularity of the conviction on Count II.

The evidence, stated most favorably to the Government, shows that Richard Salmi, a Federal Narcotics Bureau agent, was working “under cover” in Las Vegas, Nevada, in September of 1964. He met Esposito and attempted to purchase…