UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
v.
JOSE EDUARDO CAMACHO AND IRENE YBARRA MENDOZA, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The court held that the defendant's contentions on appeal lacked merit, including issues regarding self-incrimination, informant disclosure, and prosecutorial argument.
Appellants were convicted of a crime, and they appealed raising several contentions. The appeal addressed issues concerning the Fifth Amendment, the n…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Disclosure Of Informant Identity cases and more on FLexlaw
[*708] PER CURIAM.
Four basic contentions are urged on this appeal:
(1) That the inference that may be drawn from possession, as provided for in 21 U.S.C. § 174, violates the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. We disagree. The Supreme Court has just rejected this contention. United States v. Turner, 396 U.S. 398, 90 S.Ct. 642, 24 L.Ed.2d 610 (1970).
(2) That the revelation of the informant was necessary for the establishment of probable cause. Here the arresting officers not only had information from a reliable informant but also had personal knowledge from surveillance, thus the informant’s identity was not necessary for a finding of probable cause. United States v. Cleaver, 402 F. 2d 148 (9th Cir. 1968).
(3) That the revelation of the informant was necessary for the defense of the appellants. There is no absolute rule requiring disclosure of an informer’s identity. McCray v. Illinois, 386 U.S. 300, 87 S.Ct. 1056, 18 L.Ed.2d 62 (1967). Informant did not participate in the transaction and entrapment was not urged as a defense. Thus, in this case the interest of the public in the protection of informants overrides the interest of the appellant in his identification. Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957).
(4) That the closing argument of the prosecutor was prejudicial error. Suffice it to say, any potential prejudice was overcome by the trial court’s instruction to the jury1 which followed the argument.
Finding no merit in the contentions discussed or any other contentions of appellants, we affirm.
. “Evidence of a defendant’s previous conviction of a felony, or previous convicvictions, as in this case, is to be considered by you only insofar as it affects the credibility of the defendant as a witness, that is, whether or not he told the truth, and must not be considered as evidence of guilt of the offense for which the defendant is on trial.” Trial Transcript, Volume 5 at 367.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
United States v. Gibbs, 435 F.2d 621 (9th Cir. 1970)
-
United States v. Ybarra, 430 F.2d 1230 (9th Cir. 1970)
-
Napue v. United States, 432 F.2d 1230 (7th Cir. 1970)
Authorities Cited
- Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53 (U.S. 1957)
- Turner v. United States, 396 U.S. 398 (U.S. 1970)
- McCRAY v. Illinois, 386 U.S. 300 (U.S. 1967)
- United States v. Cleaver, 402 F.2d 148 (9th Cir. 1968)