United States v. Robert Cleve Montgomery

Robert Cleve Montgomery appeals from a judgment convicting him on both counts in an indictment which charged him — together with Ernest Bethel and Leora Nixon — with a violation of 18 U. S.C. § 545 (smuggling merchandise into the United States, i. e., approximately 50,000 seconal capsules and an equal number of amphetamine tablets) and of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiring with said co-defendants and one Carol George to smuggle said merchandise).

The government’s evidence was to the effect that Bethel and the two women named in the indictment started out from Pomona, California in Bethel’s automobile for Tijuana, Mexico; that on the way Bethel picked up the defendant Montgomery (hereinafter “the defendant”) whom he introduced to the two women merely as “Bob”; that on arriving at Tijuana the four went to the bar in a hotel where they sat at a table; that defendant left the others briefly; that shortly after his return, a Mexican, whom defendant introduced to Bethel and the others as “Johnny,” joined the group; that after a considerable discussion, during which Bethel gave Johnny a roll of money and a watch, Johnny left; that later the same day, Johnny reappeared and engaged the defendant…