Opinion ID: 314281
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: facts of offense, and district court disposition

Text: Prosecution Evidence 118 An informant advised the police of heroin sales being made in the Warren Hotel by Crip Green (room 15) and Jumbo (room 17), and made buys on January 25 and 26, 1970, under police supervision. Warrants were obtained, and executed on January 29. When Officer Daly entered room 15 at about 7:00 p. m., he found appellant Moore and another man in circumstances permitting an inference by police and jury of appellant's possession of narcotics on a bed. 1 The evidence would also, we think, have justified a finding that appellant was a participant in the capping operation, as the prosecution contended, but this was denied by appellant and the case was not put to the jury on that basis. Moore and his companion were arrested and searched; 50 capsules of mixed heroin were found in Moore's trouser pockets. Moore was charged on two counts-under the Jones-Miller Act of 1909, 21 U.S.C. Sec. 174 (unlawfully imported substance) and under the Harrison Act, originally enacted in 1914, 26 U.S.C. Sec. 4704(a) (package not taxstamped)-as to the heroin on the bed, and two additional counts on the drugs in his pockets. Theory of Defense 119 The theory of the defense, referred to as his Watson defense, is that guilt cannot be established by proof of possession by a non-trafficking addict, that this would be inconsistent with (a) Congressional intention, and (b) constitutional principles, particularly as developed in Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660, 82 S.Ct. 1417, 8 L.Ed.2d 758 (1962). The trial court rejected this so-called Watson defense, first by denying defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment, and later by excluding evidence and denying requested instructions. 120 Defense counsel proffered, through the testimony of Dr. Harold Kaufman, a psychiatrist on the staff of St. Elizabeths Hospital, heard by the court out of the presence of the jury, that appellant had a compulsion to inject heroin and therefore to possess heroin illegally, that appellant suffered from drug addiction, and that this was not a mental disease but a disorder. Dr. Kaufman's proffered testimony is amplified below (see fn. 11 and text thereto). It suffices, for present purposes, that defendant was not claiming that he was under the pharmacological duress of withdrawal at the time of the offense. 2 The claim rather focused on his psychological compulsion to inject heroin. 121 The court ruled there was no defense of non-responsibility on ground of narcotic addiction, except as part of a defense of insanity. The insanity defense was negatived by Dr. Kaufman's own testimony, and the proffer of his testimony was rejected. Defense counsel decided not to introduce further evidence. 122 Before resting, defense counsel referred the court to appellant's pre-trial testimony, that he was a non-trafficking addict who came to the room to buy narcotics to supplement the supply in his pocket, and made a proffer of testimony of McKinley Gore, a former addict and a counselor of drug addicts with the District of Columbia Narcotics Treatment Administration (NTA), that some addicts do use more than 50 capsules daily, and have 50 or more capsules in their possession, and that appellant had been enrolled in the NTA methadone program since December 9, 1970, and his chances for rehabilitation were good. 3 123 The court gave standard instructions on narcotic offenses, and a charge covering constructive possession. He charged: It is not a crime to be a narcotics addict, nor is the use of narcotics, standing alone, a crime. The court declined an instruction on appellant's Watson theory, and also apparently, appellant's requests for a mens rea instruction and an instruction defining addiction. Sentencing 124 On February 24, 1971, the jury found Moore guilty on all counts. On February 26 the court entered an order committing defendant for examination pursuant to Title II of the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act of 1966 (NARA), 18 U.S.C. Sec. 4252. A notice of appeal was filed March 8, 1971. 4 On April 13, 1971, the NARA staff at Danbury Federal Correctional Institution reported to the District Court that Moore was an addict, both physically and psychologically dependent on heroin but was not likely to be rehabilitated by treatment. 5 125 At the sentencing proceeding, held June 14, 1971 after the brief on appeal had been filed in this court by the appellate counsel appointed May 4, defense trial counsel submitted that Danbury's conclusion did not mean appellant is an unwilling patient or one who does not want a cure, but reflected the fact that Danbury uses a complete abstinence program and not the methadone method of treatment, with which Mr. Moore had been cooperating. When the trial judge sought confirmation from appellant concerning his criminal record, defense trial counsel conceded he had a long criminal record but submitted that it was the record of a man forced by his addiction to commit these various offenses. 6 The court sentenced appellant to concurrent terms of 6 years, and 2-6 years. 7