United States v. William Russell Rogers

The District Court, sitting without a jury, convicted Rogers of possessing marijuana on a government reservation and placed him on probation for one year under the Federal Youth Corrections Act. We affirm.

In September 1970, Rogers was camping with friends in Yosemite National Park. At an adjacent campsite, number 219, Sergeant Poschman of the Los An-geles Police Department was vacationing with his family.

Sergeant Poschman was familiar with the way marijuana is used, having been involved in more than one hundred narcotics arrests. On the night of September 19, 1970, he observed several campers, including Rogers, at campsite 217, passing hand-rolled cigarettes and a pipe among their number. He also smelled the strong odor of marijuana.

Next morning the sergeant found a park ranger, Glenn Kottcamp, and described his observations of the previous night. Together, they drove past the campsites. In a second adjacent campsite, number 200, Rogers and two other persons were present. Sergeant Posch-man pointed out all three as having been involved in the marijuana party.

Ranger Kottcamp obtained a federal warrant to search campsite 200. That evening, he and four other rangers served…