Court Opinion

ID: 9546551
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:32:00.304073+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:16:36.303308
License: Public Domain

*679THE COURT.
The petition for a rehearing is denied.
It is urged in the petition for a rehearing that the evidence established the corpus delicti because, it is argued, it tends to show that the narcotic was in the possession of someone, which is all that the law requires.
The only evidence revealed by the record that may be regarded as tending to establish the corpus delicti is the following testimony of the witness Harman:
“Q. Will you describe those premises briefly? A. It is a residence. . . . Q. Did you make a search of or in and about the premises? A. Yes, we did. Q. What if anything did you find there, Mrs. Harman ? A. We found a medical book and a doctor’s kit and some instruments and I believe an appointment book.” The witness testified in substance that the narcotics were in the doctor’s kit.
The rule is accepted generally that prima facie evidence is sufficient to establish the corpus delicti, but evidence as casual, indefinite, uncertain and wholly lacking in particularities as the finding of something of, in or about the premises, falls far short of proving possession, even prima facie.
Respondent’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied August 12, 1943.