UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
v.
LUTHER ERNEST HENDRIX, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT
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 evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction for carrying on the business of a distillery.
The defendant was convicted of violations related to an illicit distillery. Evidence showed his continuous presence at a nearby house, his actions in …
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 Concurrent Sentences cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM:
Luther Ernest Hendrix was convicted of violations of 26 U.S.C. § 5601(a)(1) and § 5601(a)(4) and 26 U. S.C. § 5686 and received a five year sentence on each count, sentences to run concurrently. On this appeal he alleges insufficiency of the evidence on all counts. However, the evidence, viewed most favorably to the government, is sufficient to sustain a conviction for violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5601(a)(4), carrying on the business of a distillery, “[ajn offense which is one of the most comprehensive of the criminal statutes designed to stop the production and sale of untaxed liquor.” United States v. Gainey, 380 U.S. 63, 85 S.Ct. 754, 12 L.Ed. 2d 658 (1965). We therefore affirm.
Testimony was adduced indicating that Hendrix was present continuously for two days at a house in a remote and rustic area of Georgia. An illicit still was located fifty yards behind the house concealed in sylvan surroundings. An electrical wire from the house fuse box was connected to a water pump in a nearby brook. The water pipe from the pump supplied the still. When the dogs barked and once when a truck passed, Hendrix would come out of the house and search the area surrounding it. The evening before his arrest, he was observed unloading twelve sixty-pound bales containing sacks of sugar from the trunk of a car and placing them in a shed near the house. The next day, after arresting Hendrix, the revenue officers discovered that the sugar was missing from the shed and that there were hand truck tracks leading from the shed to the still. Finally, the agents determined that sugar had recently been added to the mash in the still.
Reasonably minded jurors could have concluded that this evidence was sufficient to prove a violation of 26 U. S.C. § 5601(a)(4) beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, since concurrent sentences were imposed, we need not determine whether the evidence was sufficient to convict on the other counts.
Affirmed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
United States v. Windom, 510 F.2d 989 (5th Cir. 1975)
-
United States v. Burke, 496 F.2d 373 (5th Cir. 1974)
Authorities Cited
- Isbell Enters., Inc. v. Citizens Cas. Co. OF NEW York, 431 F.2d 409 (5th Cir. 1970)
- United States v. Gainey, 380 U.S. 63 (U.S. 1965)