James Ewing v. United States

Three indictments were filed on differing dates in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Cali- fomia, Southern Division (now the United States District Court for the Southern District). The first, No. 33729, named as defendants James Thomas and James (Clarence) LaVerne Currie. When the case was called, the Government announced that James Thomas had died, and moved to dismiss the indictment. This motion was granted.

The second indictment, No. 34738, was in four counts, and named as defendants James (Clarence) LaVerne Currie and James Ewing.

The third, No. 36097, was in two counts, and named James Ewing alone as a defendant, with James Thomas and Jefferson Sutton as named unindicted coconspirators, and certain unknown persons as unnamed conspirators. (This indictment is the only one appearing in the record before us for reasons hereinafter apparent.) It charges in Count I a conspiracy to import heroin and cocaine from Mexico into this country, 21 U.S.C. § 174 , by an overt act of James Thomas on October 29, 1964 (importation of three ounces of cocaine), and in Count II a conspiracy to smuggle marijuana from Mexico into the United States, 21 U.S.C. § 176a,…