Ramon Viramontes-Medina v. United States

Appellant and a co-defendant were convicted of smuggling and concealing marijuana in violation of Title 21 U.S. C. § 176a (1964). On appeal, appellant contends that the following rulings of the trial court were in error:

1. The court refused to ask prospective jurors upon voir dire examination how many criminal cases they had heard in the previous six months, and what type these were.

2. Appellant was not permitted to challenge for cause jurors who had served on other cases within the previous year, but during the same term of court.

3. Appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of the prosecution’s case based upon an alleged insufficiency of evidence, was denied.

4. The District Court severely limited appellant’s cross-examination of co-defendant Leon, designed to discredit his testimony by showing that he was not, as he claimed, an impecunious welder, but a prosperous professional smuggler.

5. The court sentenced appellant without benefit of a presentence report.

Appellant recognizes that the case law does not favor him as to assignments of error one and two, supra. Bellard v. United States, 356 F.2d 437, 439 (5th Cir. 1966); Calderon v. United States, 269…