Evelyn Carol Gaylor v. United States

On August 8, 1967, appellant attempted to return to the United States following a brief trip to Tijuana, Mexico. The car which appellant was driving was searched and two and a quarter ounces of cocaine was found hidden above the radio. Count one of the resulting indictment was for unlawfully importing cocaine and count two charged knowing concealment and facilitation of transportation and concealment of cocaine. 21 U.S.C. § 174 . Appellant’s lack of knowledge of the presence of the cocaine was the defense. Because she was ten months pregnant when apprehended at the border, appellant testified that she could not have gone through the contortions necessary to place a parcel above the automobile radio. The jury returned a verdict finding appellant not guilty of count one and guilty of count two. The jury well may have thought that it was possible for a pregnant woman to sit on the floor of the car and put the cocaine up above the radio or that she procured someone else to put it there. The jury would know from human experience that it is most difficult for anyone to sit on the seat of a car and work on a radio. Here the jury could have drawn some inferences from defendant’s story and…