Sears v. United States

Sheriff Sears (defendant) accepted payment from Davis, a former bootlegger secretly working undercover for federal agents, to warn Davis if IRS agents came looking; Davis was actually helping agents build a case and had separately joined an illegal still with Johnson and Wright, with no evidence Sears knew of that connection, and the trial court refused Sears's requested instruction that conviction required proof at least one actual co-conspirator genuinely intended to break the law.