United States v. David Paul Castanon, United States of America v. Antonio Oliveres Lopez

Castanon and Lopez appeal from judgments of conviction on Counts I through X of an indictment charging them jointly with a conspiracy and with various substantive offenses involving heroin ( 21 U.S.C. § 174 ), including its sale without the written order form required by 26 U.S.C. § 4705 (a); in addition, Castanon appeals from his conviction under an eleventh count in which he and one Lujan were separately charged with a Section 174 violation, allegedly committed several months after those specified in the earlier counts.

•None of the errors assigned has merit or possesses sufficient substance to warrant extended discussion.

1. Although the constitutional validity of the “order .form statute” — 26 U.S.C. § 4705 (a), on which Counts IV, VII and X of the indictment were laid —was perhaps fairly debatable at the time this trial was in progress, the Supreme Court shortly thereafter provided the authoritative answer to such a dispute by its holding in Minor v. United States, 396 U.S. 87 , 90 S.Ct. 284 , 24 L.Ed.2d 283 (1969), that the statute did not offend a seller’s rights under the Fifth Amendment.

2. Similarly, the validity of the statutory presumption in 21 U.S.C. § 174 that…