United States v. Lawrence Wayne Mollat

The judgment of conviction in this marijuana transportation case is reversed. The main problem is on the knowledge of importation from Mexico. We regard the “smell” of the gasoline and the aerial map of a portion of Mexico found in the plane as just too thin to sustain a conviction here beyond a reasonable doubt.

Obviously, the defendant who transported over one-third of a ton of marijuana violated Arizona and California laws, but federal officials chose to keep the case with all of its Leary problems (Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6, 89 S.Ct. 1532, 23 L.Ed.2d 57 (1969)). We assume that neither the California nor the Arizona statute of limitations has yet run.