Ramiro Plascencia-Plascencia v. United States

The appellant entered the United States on April 30, 1968, at San Luis, Arizona, driving a Ford automobile. He gave a negative reply to the usual questions as to whether he had any merchandise to declare. A search of the vehicle revealed 152 kilograms of marijuana. Appellant denied knowing that the marijuana was in the car. He claimed to have borrowed the car from a friend.

The indictment charged that the appellant did, with intent to defraud the United States of America, knowingly and unlawfully smuggle and bring into the United States, contrary to law approximately 152 kilos of marijuana, in violation of Title 21, Section 176a of the United States Code.

The appellant and the government are in substantial agreement that the only issue before this court is whether the inclusion in instructions to the jury of the presumption from § 176a relating to the knowledge of illegal importation, held unconstitutional in Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6 , 89 S.Ct. 1532 , 23 L.Ed.2d 57 (1969), requires reversal of appellant’s conviction. We hold that it does not.

This court recently held in United States v. Scott, 425 F.2d 55 , decided March 6, 1970, that the decision in Leary partially…