Opinion ID: 1476714
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: The Identity of the Samples

Text: The appellee has no quarrel with the proposition that the burden is on the Government to establish that in reasonable probability the testimony of its witnesses regarding the condition of the drugs as of the date of analysis substantially reflects their condition on the date of shipment. The controversy between the parties arises in the application of this familiar principle to the facts at bar. The appellants seem to insist on what would amount to a mathematical demonstration that there was no tampering with the vials anywhere along the line, from the date the products left the custody of the appellants to the date when the drugs were examined and analyzed in Washington or San Francisco. The appellee, on the other hand, asserts that it has undertaken to establish the identity of the samples as of the time of shipment, by circumstantial evidence relating to their interstate shipment, the identity of the consignees and the condition of the drugs when received by the Government chemists, together with the reasonable inferences flowing from such evidence. We will now examine these divergent assertions in greater detail.