Adolph Joseph Olinde and Ramon Zatrain Vasquez v. United States

Appellants were indicted and prosecuted jointly for violations of 21 U.S.C. § 174 . Count One of the indictment charged appellant Olinde alone. Counts Two and Three of the indictment charged appellant Vasquez alone. Count Four of the indictment charged both appellants. Appellant Olinde was acquitted as to Count One and convicted as to Count Four. Appellant Vasquez was convicted as to Counts Two, Three and Four.

On appeal both appellants argue that the presumption contained in § 174 is violative of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and that the portion of that section allowing adverse inferences to be drawn unless the defendant comes forward and explains his possession to the satisfaction of the jury is violative of the Fifth Amendment right against compulsory self-incrimination. Both of these arguments were rejected by the Supreme Court in Turner v. United States (January 20, 1970) 396 U.S. 398 , 90 S.Ct. 642 , 24 L.Ed.2d 610 . Appellant Vasquez’s further argument, that the presumption in § 174 deprives an accused of the right to trial by jury, must also be rejected in the light of the Turner decision.

Appellant Olinde also argues that the trial court’s instructions…