1. Registration of stills for the production of distilled
spirits should be with the District Supervisor of the Alcohol Tax
Unit in the Bureau of Internal Revenue. P.
302 U. S.
219.
A count charging conspiracy to commit the offense of possessing
such stills "without having the same registered with the Collector
of Internal Revenue, as required by law," is therefore bad.
(
Cf. Rev.Stats. § 3258; 26 U.S.C. § 1162.)
2. When the first of several counts upon which consecutive
sentences are based is defective, the sentences should be corrected
so as to fix a definite date for their commencement. P.
302 U. S. 220.
91 F.2d 404 reversed.
Certiorari,
post, p. 673, to review judgments affirming
judgments sentencing petitioners after conviction upon four counts
of a joint indictment for conspiracy.
Page 302 U. S. 219
PER CURIAM.
Judgments of conviction on four counts of an indictment charging
conspiracies to violate provisions of the internal revenue laws
were affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals. 91 F.(2d) 404.
Certiorari was granted, limited to the question whether the first
count of the indictment states an offense under federal law.
The first count alleged that defendants, from October 1, 1934,
to the date of the indictment, October 30, 1935, unlawfully
conspired to possess, and caused to be possessed, stills and
apparatus for the production of distilled spirits without having
the same registered with the Collector of Internal Revenue as
required by law. The government concedes that, under the applicable
law, the charge should have been that there was failure to register
the stills with the District Supervisor of the Alcohol Tax Unit in
the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The first count failed to state an
offense. Act of March 3, 1927, c. 348, 44 Stat. 1381, 5 U.S.C. §
281c; Regulations No. 3, Bureau of Industrial Alcohol, Treasury
Department (March 24, 1931), Article 14; Act of March 3, 1933, c.
212, § 16, 47 Stat. 1518; Executive Order No. 6639, March 10, 1934,
5 U.S.C. § 132 note; Treasury Decision No. 4432, May 10, 1934.
Scott v. United States, 78 F.(2d) 791;
Benton v.
United States, 80 F.2d 162.
The sentence upon count 2 provides that it shall run "from and
after expiration of term of imprisonment imposed
Page 302 U. S. 220
on count one." Each of the sentences on the remaining counts
runs from the expiration of the term of imprisonment imposed on the
preceding count. In view of the invalidity of the sentence on count
1, the sentences on the remaining counts should be amended so as to
fix a definite date for their commencement.
The judgments on count 1 are severally reversed, and the causes
are remanded for further proceedings in conformity with this
opinion.
Reversed.
* Together with No. 203,
Sam Fleisher v. United States,
and No. 204,
Stein v. United States, also on writs of
certiorari to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit.
