United States v. Morris Leal

Appellant was convicted of the crime of importing heroin into the United States, 21 U.S.C. § 952 (a) and of attempting to possess heroin with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a). He was acquitted of a charge of conspiracy to import heroin, and Joseph Gumataotao, a co-defendant, was acquitted on all counts. On appeal appellant argues that the government failed to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence two exhibits offered by the government. We affirm the conviction.

I.

Facts

On October 1, 1973, during a routine inspection of packages coming from abroad, an inspector at the Agana, Guam, post office noticed a package with the return address of Mark Swegler, Park Hotel, Hong Kong. The package was addressed to Doris Bautista, Dedeo Village, General Delivery, Agana, Guam 96910. While inspecting baggage at the Guam International Air Terminal the previous night, the inspector had found a Mark Swegler bringing heroin into the country. Therefore, she opened the package and discovered inside, inter alia, white powder subsequently determined to be heroin. Among the rest of the packages in the post office was…