Alexander Ruben Estrella v. United States

Defendant, Estrella, appeals from a jury verdict of guilty rendered against him on six counts arising from two sales of heroin made on June 17, and June 28, 1965, more than three years prior to his trial. Both sales were made to an informant, Luna, who was apparently providing evidence of narcotics violations to federal officers to mitigate the effect of an indictment filed against him for a narcotics violation. The indictment against Luna was dismissed during June 1966.

While testifying that he remembered meeting the informant in May 1965, and that he had made the second sale on June 28, 1965, Estrella denied any reeollection of the sale on June 17, 1965. Estrella further stated that the informant had approached him between 10 and 50 times urging him to supply heroin to satisfy the informant’s needs, and, on one occasion, had threatened to “blade” Estrella because he had no heroin to sell. Although the defendant and Luna were the only persons present when the alleged threat was made, Estrella testified that other people, including Luna’s wife, were present both shortly before and shortly after the threat was made. None of these parties was called to testify-

In contrast to the…