Mens rea:

"Jewell testified that he sold his car for $100 to get the money "to have a good time." Along with a friend, Jewell rented a car and drove from Los Angeles to Mexico. Jewell and his friend testified that a stranger named "Ray" offered to sell them marijuana and, when they refused, asked if they would drive his car back to Los Angeles for $100 and deliver the automobile to the address on the car registration and to leave the keys in the ashtray. Jewell's companion "wanted no part" of the scheme. Jewell, although accepting the offer, reportedly believed that "it didn't sound right to me." He later stated to law enforcement authorities that "he thought there was probably something wrong and something illegal in the vehicle." As a result, before driving the car, Jewell looked in the glove compartment and under the front seat and in the trunk. He "didn't find anything," and assumed that the "people at the border wouldn't find anything either." When Jewell arrived at the border, an American Customs agent opened the trunk and saw a special compartment situated between the trunk and the rear seat. The agent opened the compartment and seized 110 pounds of marijuana valued at $6,250. Jewell was asked at trial whether he had seen the special compartment when he opened the trunk and responded, "Well, you know, I saw a void there, but I didn't know what it was." He stated that he did not investigate further. The Customs agent testified that when he opened the trunk and saw the compartment, he asked appellant "when he had that put in." Jewell reportedly told the agent "that it was in the car when he got it." Jewell was convicted and received concurrent sentences on two counts: (1) knowingly or intentionally importing a controlled substance, and (2) knowingly or intentionally possessing, with intent to distribute, a controlled substance. Jewell challenged his conviction on the grounds that he did not know that the marijuana was in the compartment.

How would you decide this case?

Would your answer be different if Jewell had not been aware of the special compartment when he first looked in the trunk of the car?

Would Jewell be convicted if he was prosecuted under the Missouri law relied on by the court in Nations? "