Louis Perez Cerda v. United States

Cerda played Russian Roulette with his chances, and lost. A three count indictment charged violations of Title 21 U.S.C. Sec. 174 and 26 U.S.C. Sec. 4705 (a) (1964), the crimes of concealing and selling a narcotic drug, namely heroin, and selling a narcotic drug, namely heroin, without a proper form issued for that purpose. The U. S. Attorney offered a plea to a lesser offense, a “tax count”, which appellant refused, contrary to the advice of his counsel, and elected to stand trial. The jury convicted him upon two of the three counts, and he was sentenced to two concurrent ten year sentences,…