Court Opinion

ID: 9457591
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:27:00.706533+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:25.224731
License: Public Domain

MEDINA, Circuit Judge
(concurring) :
I expected to differ from my brothers in this case, but, after a thorough study of the long line of cases in this Circuit construing and applying the statutory presumption of knowledge of importation of narcotics, I find that I cannot conscientiously dissent.
But I feel that some elaboration of the facts is necessary. The narcotics ring that the combined law enforcement officers of New York State and City, together with a federal Task Force, were trying to break up may be assumed, as usual, to consist of: one or more individuals at the top who supplied heroin in large or small quantities, but who under no circumstances ever participated personally in any negotiated sale or had heroin in their possession; the little peddlers and addicts at the bottom of the hierarchy, and men such as Steward and Wooden who negotiated sales of larger quantities of heroin; and intermediate executives who took charge of the delivery arrangements, protected such people as Steward and Wooden in making deliveries, brought back the money and assured a safe getaway if trouble was encountered. Just such an intermediate executive was Sands.
By drawing from the direct and circumstantial evidence the inferences which it is the jury’s function to do, and by taking for granted those inferences favorable to the Government, this is the picture that emerges. Sands, driving a car, picked up Steward at a flower shop. They were not strangers to one another. Then came the familiar trip to a nearby bar where Sands and Steward meet the Woodens. After a time and several telephone calls, the package containing $15,000 worth of heroin appeared and Steward placed this package inside his shirt. Then Sands, driving the same car, with Steward in the back seat carrying the package of heroin under his shirt, led the cavalcade to the Sky-way Motel, with the Woodens in their car tagging behind. The two cars were not parked together, but were separated by quite a space in the parking lot. During the time Wooden first went upstairs, and during the time Wooden, followed by Steward, went upstairs again, Sands sat in his ear.
After the delay caused by the arrest of Steward and Wooden upstairs Sands, suspecting that all was not well, moved over to the Wooden car and sat down in the driver’s seat beside Mrs. Wooden. He had a loaded pistol tucked in between his shirt and his trousers ready for immediate use. At the first sign of the police he was prepared to shoot his way out and drive off, at least saving himself and Mrs. Wooden. Indeed, had it not been for quick work on the part of Detective Robert Ryan in sneaking up and getting the drop on Sands as he pulled out his gun, Sands and Mrs. Wooden would have escaped and there would have been just one more dead law enforcement officer. The suggestion by counsel for Sands that there was no proof that the keys were in the ignition when Sands got in the Wooden ear is designed to convince us that Sands was perhaps an innocent bystander or a casual or unknowing facilitator, but this is a wholly inadmissible and erroneous position. It is ridiculous to suppose that Wooden, engaged in this dangerous undertaking, would put the keys in his pocket when he went upstairs with Steward, leaving his wife in a car that could not even be started in case of trouble. It will be recalled that it was this same Wooden who had told Agent McMillan and Patrolman Bernhardt not to start any funny business because his men downstairs had their “roscoes.” That his men, including Sands, had loaded pistols on their persons was clearly proved.
Moreover, I think the proofs warranted a finding that each of the participants, including Sands, knew they were making a delivery of heroin.
*1209It seems strange that, despite all this, the conviction of Sands for the substantive offense, for aiding and abetting, for conspiracy and for the use of a firearm in connection with the delivery of the heroin, should be set aside. It may be difficult for the man in the street to understand this. The simple reason, however, is that the Congress made it an essential ingredient of the crimes charged in this indictment that there be proof of knowledge on the part of a defendant that the heroin had been imported. There was no such proof. And the statutory presumption of knowledge only applies if the proofs show that the defendant was in actual or constructive possession of the heroin. There was no such proof. Fortunately, this statute has been repealed.
And so, I suppose, Sands may soon be back on the streets plying his nefarious trade, with the benefit of the experience he has had in this case. There is some likelihood, however, that he may still be prosecuted under New York law for possession of the pistol without a license, as one of the witnesses in this case testified that Sands told him he had no license to carry the gun.