Citations
- 194 F.2d 168
Full opinion text
HICKS, Chief Judge.
Each appellant was charged in an indictment containing three counts with a violation of Sections 2803(a), 2913 and 3321, Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C.Á. §§ 2803(a), 2913, 3321, with transporting, possessing, removing and concealing distilled spirits upon which the taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue laws had not been paid. They each pleaded, not guilty an'd by consent they were tried together to the court without the intervention of a jury. They were convicted, hence this appeal.
, There was a joint motion to suppress evidence and it was agreed that the evidence introduced and heard could be considered on both the motion to suppress as well as on the trial on its merits.
The motion to suppress the evidence was denied and the crucial question here is, whether it should have been sustained.
The court on request of the Government made a special finding of facts. Rule 23(c), Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.A. It denied a request for findings made by appellants.
The facts as found by the court and supported by the record are as follows:
C. H. Hynds was lan Investigator for the Alcohol Tax Unit of the United States Treasury. He was charged with the enforcement of the Internal Revenue laws relating to alcoholic beverages. His duties included the investigation of the manufacture and transportation of non-tax paid whiskey. In December 1950 he had occasion to investigate the purported transportation of non-tax paid whiskey in the Eastern Division of the Western District of Tennessee and he had information concerning the purported activity in this respect of appellant Bradford. Hynds testified that on December 11, 1950 he was introduced by an informer to Bradford, who stated in his presence, that he could sell from 50 to 100 gallons each week of non-tax paid whiskey in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tenn., where he, appellant Bradford lived, provided he could obtain that quantity. Hynds further testified that on the afternoon of December 14, 1950 between 3:00 rand 4:00 o’clock, another informer telephoned him that Bradford was supposed to come to Madison County to get some whiskey; that the informer understood that he was to come from Brownsville to Medon to get a lo