Jessie Hughes v. United States

Jessie Hughes appeals from his conviction, following a trial by jury, on all nine counts of a nine-count indictment charging three separate knowing sales and concealments of heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 174 and 26 U.S.C. § 4705 (a).

Testimony elicited at the trial established that on the three occasions described in the indictment appellant sold heroin to William B. Jackson, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. On each occasion the meeting was set up by one Bill Davis, a government informer who was also responsible for introducing appellant to agent Jackson just before the first sale. Two of the sales were made in Davis’s home and the third took place in an alley just behind his home.

At the trial appellant became a witness and admitted his participation in all transactions. His defense was based on two grounds: (1) the existence of such limited and defective mental capacity (although not so limited or defective as to constitute insanity) as to render him incapable of forming the requisite specific intent to commit the crime, and (2) entrapment. Under the peculiar circumstances of this case, the two defenses were closely intertwined.

Fundamentally, appellant…