This is the second appeal in this matter, our first decision being reported in Costello v. United States, 9 Cir.,
On this appeal Costello asserts that the findings are not supported by the evidence. In considering this question we apply the “clearly erroneous” rule by analogy to rule 52(a) F.R.Civ.P., 28 U.S.C.; United States v. Page, 9 Cir., 1962,
Appellant asserts that there is no such corroboration here, and we agree. The only real corroboration of this kind occurred after the arrest, and as we pointed out in our prior opinion, (
This, however, is not the end of the matter. Here, there was another kind of corroboration. The Court had before it the testimony of Thompson who had used the informant in the Cody case and found that the information that she gave was accurate. His testimony is that he told officer Calhoon about this experience and this testimony is confirmed by Calhoon. In addition, there is testimony by Thompson, Calhoon and Sundberg that each of them, before the arrest of Costello, had received information from the informant regarding prostitution in the Fairbanks area, which information they had cheeked out and found accurate. It was brought out on cross-examination that so far as the witnesses could recall, none of this information led to an arrest or conviction, and that the witnesses could not recall specific instances by name. The reasons given for this lack of recollection were two, first, that the witnesses were testifying in 1963 and the events involved occurred before the arrest of Costello in the spring of 1958, some five years before and, second, that prostitu *262 tion is a misdemeanor and, consequently, they did not keep the same kind of records as to the information gleaned from the informant that they would have kept in connection with more serious matters. It is urged that this destroys their testimony as to information given by the informant relating to prostitution matters. We think not. It goes to the weight of the testimony and, of course, the Court could have disbelieved the officers if it were convinced that their stories on this subject were fabrications. The Court’s findings, however, show that it believed them and we cannot say that these findings are clearly erroneous.
It is urged that the two specific cases to which the officers or some of them referred, namely, the Cody and Childress cases, cannot be taken into account as indicating reliability of the informant because they are too remote, the Cody case, at least, having occurred in 1952, and also because in the Childress case the officers did not know of their own knowledge that the informant’s tip had proved out, but had gotten this information
from
other officers in Anchorage. These contentions we must also reject. They, too, go to the weight of the testimony and the Court’s findings show that it believed the officers and accepted their testimony. We did not, in our prior opinion, use the word “record,” which appellant stresses, in any technical sense. The case of Worthington v. United States, 6 Cir., 1948,
Our holding is that there are at least two means by which the credibility of an informant may be established. One is by corroborating external circumstances occurring in the course of the very case that is at issue, as happened in the Draper case, supra. The other is the fact that on prior occasions in other cases the informant has given information which turned out to be reliable. It is the latter type of corroboration that exists here, and that we hold to be sufficient. We are cited to no case to the contrary, although there is language to that effect, with which we do not agree, in the separate opinion of Judge Bazelon in Jones v. United States, 1959,
“The rule formulated by the cases is that information received from an outside source * * * will not suffice to show probable cause unless such source is believed to be reliable, or unless it has substantial verification or supplementation in facts personally known to the officer or officers.”
See also Butler v. United States, 9 Cir., 1959,
Appellant also asserts, as he did on the prior appeal, that the presumption of importation in 21 U.S.C. § 176a
1
and the presumption stated in 26 U.S.C. § 4744 (a)
2
are invalid. Appellee asserts that these questions are no longer open because, in the prior appeal, our remand directed the district court to hold a hearing confined to the reliability of the informer. It is concluded from this that all other questions were impliedly decided adversely to appellant. This, we think, does not follow. In ordering a remand, we followed the procedure used by the Supreme Court in United States v. Shotwell Mfg. Co., 1957,
As to the presumption created by 21 U.S.C. § 176a, appellant’s argument is that the testimony in the case contradicts the presumption. He relies upon the testimony of two witnesses. One of them, Barkley, a state police investigator, was asked on cross-examination if he knew where marijuana comes from, and answered: “From a plant.” He was then asked if he knew where these plants grow, and answered: “Not exactly. I have heard that they grow all over.” The other, Ringstrom, a retired chemist of the Alcohol Tax Unit of the Treasury Department, identified the marijuana involved in this case and testified to certain chemical tests that he had used to verify the fact that it was marijuana. On cross-examination, he testified that he was unable to tell by chemical tests from what country any particular marijuana came and he then gave the following testimony :
“Q. Well, would you state what information you have relative to this general distribution and the growth areas ?
“A. It grows all over the United States, Mexico, Europe, the southern part of Asia, and northern part of Africa; as far as I know, it grows over the major part of the world in the warm climates and the temperate climates.
“Q. Is it a difficult plant to raise ?
“A. It is very easy to raise.
“Q. And does any part of the plant have commercial use?
“A. Where it is grown and harvested for definite purposes; yes, it does.
“Q. And is there any way known to you that it could be either chemically or botanieally determined whether a given stalk or portion of a stalk or leaves of marijuana was grown in the United States or in some foreign land ?
“A. Not that I know of.”
He further testified that the marijuana cigarettes in question contained “portions of the leafy portion of the plant rather than a portion of the seed and a portion of the fibrous structure of the plant itself.”
Costello makes two arguments, one, that the statute is unconstitutional on its face and, two, that in the light of the testimony that we have quoted, any presumption that the particular marijuana here involved was imported has no rational basis in fact. We reject the first argument; we have heretofore held that the statute is constitutional. (Caudillo v. United States, 9 Cir., 1958,
Appellant’s second argument is based upon the contention that the record shows (a) that marijuana “grows all over the United States * * * in the warm climates and the temperate climates,” and (b) that the particular marijuana here in question was “manicured,” i. e., made up entirely of leaves, and that in the Caudillo and Butler cases we took note of the fact that while “unmanicured” marijuana is seldom produced in the United States, “manicured” marijuana is seldom *264 imported. The record in this case contains no such evidence. In Caudillo we pointed out that we know of no medical ■or scientific use to be made of marijuana, ■save perhaps for occasional testing in order to make scientific comparisons with other nai'cotics, barbituates and amphetamines. We also noted that the growing of marijuana is illegal in several states including California (the state there involved), and that by far the larger part of all marijuana found within the United States is imported. In Alaska, as in California, the growing or possession of marijuana is illegal. (See Michie’s Alaska Statutes, §§ 17.10.010, 17.10.230(4), (12) and (13) ). The fact that the marijuana involved in Butler and Caudillo was “unmanicured” was simply an additional factor entering into the decision in those cases.
Those cases certainly establish the proposition that the mere fact that marijuana can be and is grown in the United States does not render the statute invalid. The only additional fact suggested here is that the particular marijuana appears to have been “manicured.” However, this fact alone is not enough to require a decision that the statute is ■invalid as applied to Costello. In DeRose v. United States, 9 Cir., 1963,
Costello was convicted on three counts, the first two of which charged violation of section 4744 of Title 26 U.S. Code. The third charged violation of section 176a of Title 21. He was sentenced to five years on each of counts one and two, and to ten years on count three, all sentences concurrent. Under these circumstances, the sentence on count three being valid, we need not further consider counts one and two. Hence, we need not pass upon the validity of the presumption stated in 26 U.S.C. § 4744(a). (See Gonzalez v. United States, 9 Cir., 1963,
Affirmed.
Notes
. “Whenever on trial for a violation of this subsection, the defendant is shown to have or to have had the marihuana in his possession, such possession shall be deemed sufficient evidence to authorize conviction unless the defendant explains his possession to the satisfaction of the jury.”
. “Proof that any person shall have had in his possession any marihuana and shall have failed, after reasonable notice and demand by the Secretary or his delegate, to produce the order form required by section 4742 to be retained by him shall be presumptive evidence of guilt under this subsection and of liability for the tax imposed by section 4741(a).”
