United States Ex Rel. Murphy v. Murphy

The relator was convicted in the state court of the crime of possessing a machine-gun. The statute making this a crime— § 1897, sub. 1-a of the New York Penal Law, Consol.Laws, c. 40 — provides, among other things, that “the. presence of such machine-gun in any room, dwelling, structure or vehicle shall be presumptive evidence of its illegal possession by all the persons occupying the place where such machine-gun is found”. The relator argues that this presumption is so unreasonable as to violate the Fourteenth Amendment, U.S.C.A.Const., and that its use against him upon the trial vitiated…