UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Bruce DUNN, Richard Austin Mandeville, Joseph Harvey Zeligs, Darold Lanier Milligan, Richard Lee Shinafelt, Appellants, 564 F.2d 348

Summary

Alleging evidentiary insufficiency, five defendants appealed their convictions for multiple counts of conspiracy and attempt in respect to possession, importation, and intended distribution of hashish. The court reversed and remanded as to four defendants but affirmed the fifth defendant's conviction. It was error to admit evidence of defendants' involvement in other, noncriminal transactions, given that those events were benign and revealed neither a prior similar course of conduct nor modus operandi. Properly understood, the slight evidence rule meant that once a conspiracy was proved, evidence establishing beyond a reasonable doubt a defendant's connection with the conspiracy, even though the connection was slight, was sufficient to convict him with knowing participation in the conspiracy. That was not true of the evidence relating to the four defendants. There was no evidence to connect them with the conspiracy charged. To the contrary, the only apparent justification for their ...