United States v. Gould

Charles Gould and Joseph Carey (defendants) were tried for conspiring to import and importing cocaine after they enlisted a courier to smuggle roughly two pounds of cocaine hidden in hollowed-out platform shoes, discovered when a customs agent x-rayed the shoes at the Miami airport. Experts testified the substance was cocaine hydrochloride, but the government offered no direct evidence that cocaine hydrochloride derives from coca leaves. The trial judge instructed the jury that if it found the substance was cocaine hydrochloride, that substance was conclusively a Schedule II controlled substance, even though cocaine hydrochloride wasn't specifically listed on Schedule II. The jury convicted both defendants, who appealed, arguing the court erred by judicially noticing this fact without requiring proof and by failing to instruct the jury it could disregard the noticed fact under FRE 201(g).