U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1971

United States v. Lawrence Wayne Mollat

United States v. Lawrence Wayne Mollat
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · Decided October 14, 1971 · Per Curiam
448 F.2d 789 (Federal Reporter, Second Series)

United States v. Lawrence Wayne Mollat

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

The judgment of conviction in this marijuana transportation case is reversed. The main problem is on the knowledge of importation from Mexico. We regard the “smell” of the gasoline and the aerial map of a portion of Mexico found in the plane as just too thin to sustain a conviction here beyond a reasonable doubt.

Obviously, the defendant who transported over one-third of a ton of marijuana violated Arizona and California laws, but federal officials chose to keep the case with all of its Leary problems (Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6, 89 S.Ct. 1532, 23 L.Ed.2d 57 (1969)). We assume that neither the California nor the Arizona statute of limitations has yet run.

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