Citations
- 325 F.2d 793
Full opinion text
TAYLOR, District Judge.
The appellants were convicted in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, Northern Division, on four counts of an Indictment, each count charging a violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 1952. They were charged as principals under 18 U.S.C. § 2. Each count is identical except for the date on which the offense was alleged to have been committed.
The record discloses that in May, 1962, the appellants purchased a business in Seattle, Washington, known as the Turf Smoke Shop, Inc., where among other things, there was conducted “pull-tab” games. Admittedly this operation involved betting and wagering on sporting events, occurring from time to time throughout the United States, in violation of the anti-gambling laws of the State of Washington. After the appellants purchased the business it was operated under the name of Turf Center, Inc., in the same manner as it had been operated. There was located in and upon the premises of this enterprise a Western Union Telegraph Company wire service which formed a loop through Chicago, Illinois, where the scores and results of various national sporting events were correlated and dispatched to the Turf Center in Seattle. This wire facility was used by appellants to obtain up-to-the-minute reports of scores and results while sporting events were in progress and at their termination; all for the purpose of promoting and facilitating the betting and wagering games being conducted by appellants.
Appellants have specified eight errors, none of which has merit. We consider them in the order assigned.
Under Specification of Error No. 1, appellants contend that 18 U.S.C. § 1952 violates the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and a portion of the Sixth Amendment because the application of the statute is vague' and its language fails .to apprise a man of common intelligence