Court Opinion

ID: 9469225
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:35:37.976401+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:17.653424
License: Public Domain

HALL, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
While I concur with most of the majority opinion, I dissent from the reversal of the convictions for importation of marijuana.
In determining the sufficiency of the evidence to support the convictions, we must allow the government the benefit of all reasonable inferences from the facts proven. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); United States v. Grow, 394 F.2d 182 (4th Cir.) cert. denied, 393 U.S. 840, 89 S.Ct. 118, 21 L.Ed.2d 111 (1968).
In this case, the marijuana was found on board the Lodestar together with boxes of quaaludes. As Judge Widener has outlined, the evidence indicated that the quaaludes were imported from Colombia. From this evidence, the jury could have inferred beyond a reasonable doubt that the rest of the Lodestar’s cargo, including the marijuana, was similarly imported.
Accordingly, I would affirm the convictions for importation of the marijuana.