233 F. 878 | 6th Cir. | 1916
Kasle was convicted and sentenced under an indictment charging him with unlawfully and feloniously having in his possession certain goods and chattels, knowing them to have been stolen from a railroad freight station while in course of shipment in interstate commerce. A motion to quash the indictment was overruled. At the close of the evidence offered by the government, the defendant moved that the evidence be withdrawn and a verdict directed in his favor, and the motion was denied. Again at the close of all the evidence defendant renewed his motion for a directed verdict on the ground that there was no evidence to sustain the allegations of any of the counts of the indictment, which was granted as to the first count and overruled as to the second and third counts. Aside from the ruling upon the first count, exception was reserved and error assigned upon each of the rulings mentioned; and some twenty additional assignments are presented upon exceptions reserved in the course of the trial concerning rulings in admitting and rejecting testimony and certain instructions contained in the charge to the jury. Defendant prosecutes error.
1. The motion to quash the indictment is based on six grounds, the first four of which are in substance that at the time the goods and chattels are alleged to have been in defendant’s possession it does not appear in any of the counts (a) lliat defendani knew they had been stolen, taken or carried away from interstate commerce, (b) that they were interstate commerce or a part tliereo f, (c) that they retained their character as an interstate shipment of freight, (d) that they had not lost their character as part of interstate commerce; and the two> remaining grounds are (e) that the indictment and the counts respectively do not with sufficient certainly describe the offense charged so as fairly to inform defendant of its nature and of what he would be called upon-to meet, and (f) that the indictment and counts do not state facts sufficient to constitute an offense against the United States.
“ * * * Whoever shall steal or unlawfully take, carry away, or conceal, or by fraud or deception obtain from ¡my railroad car, station house, platform, depot, steamboat, vessel, or wharf, with intent to convert to his own use any goods or chattels moving as, or which are a part of or which constitute, an interstate or foreign shipment of freight or express, or shall buy, .or receive, or liare in his possession any such goods or chattels, knowing tíie same to have been stolen, * * * shall in each case be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.”
The indictment contains three counts; but as count 1 was in effect eliminated, as stated, it is necessary to consider only counts 2 and 3. Except as to dates of the offenses charged, the kinds and the points of origin and destination of the goods and chattels involved (the second count describing ten pigs of tin, comprising about 1,119 pounds, and the third, two barrels of scrap brass), the two counts remaining
Furthermore, since the consignee named in the third count, Koblitz, Kohn & Company, is seemingly a partnership, and since ownership of the property described is not laid in the name of any person purporting to be a partner, it may be well to look further into the statute' itself. While such objections as we have been considering might be avoided, and ought to be, through careful preparation of indictments, still it is plain enough that the act of Congress here involved was not intended to require strict observance of either all the rules of the common law upon the subject of certainty in criminal pleading, or those growing out of distinct statutes which were intended to change and modify many of such rules. It is to be observed, too, that the relevancy or not of decisions, which in large measure are controlled by local statutes, is to be tested by comparison of those statutes with the particular statute in issue. The act now in question is designed to protect articles while in course of interstate shipment. When the articles of freight now in dispute are considered in connection with their points of origin and destination and the “railroad station house,” as such points and station are described in the counts, it is clear that for purposes of the indictment the freight articles are to be treated as having been “in course of shipment in interstate commerce” at the times they are alleged to have been stolen; and it is equally clear that when defendant was required 'to meet the allegations charging him with having possession of the articles his opportunities for identifying them were quite as available as they would have been if title to the articles, and also to the station, had been laid in the name of the owner of the station. The station was the natural place for the custody and control of such articles until the movement toward their fixed destinations should actually be resumed; and the charge made in the indictment that the goods were “stolen, taken and carried away” from this station, may be said to have followed the language of the statute. A statute and an indictment somewhat similar to the statute and indictment here involved were under consideration in United States v. Coombs, 37 U. S. (12 Pet.) 72, 9 L. Ed. 1004. It is true, however, that the court was there called upon to determine only a question of jurisdiction which arose under the indictment; the act forbade any person to (37 U. S. [12 Pet.] 74, 9 L. Ed. 1004)—
“plunder, steal or destroy any money, goods, mercliandise, or other effects from, or belonging to, any ship or vessel, * * * which shall be in distress, or which shall be wrecked, lost, stranded or cast away, upon the sea, or upon any reef, shoal, bank, or rocks of the sea, or in any place within the admiralty or maritime jurisdiction of the United States.”
Although the question of ownership, with which we are now concerned, did not arise in that case, it is noteworthy that the indictment is there stated (37 U. S. [12 Pet.] 74, 9 L. Ed. 1004) to have charged that the merchandise stolen “belonged to the ship Bristol, the said ship then being in distress,” etc. (Id.). It hardly is to be inferred that
“If you determine that you can identify as stolen two barrels of brass or any portion of tbe shipment of brass referred to in the exhibits in question, or the pig tin referred to in the exhibits in question, if that identification satisfies you beyond a reasonable doubt, then, of course, logically, your next inquiry is, whether either or both of those classes of articles, on one count or the other, came into the possession of the defendant Sam Kasle. You must carry the identification, of course, to him. * * *
“Then, if you find, beyond a reasonable doubt, either this brass or this . tin in Sam Kasle’s possession, you must proceed then to determine whether he had possession of either or both of those classes of articles, knowing that they were stolen.
“I may say to you, in the first place, that the law is that the possession of stolen property imputes knowledge in the possessor that it was and is stolen, unless the possessor explains his possession in such a way as to free his mind [as to free him?] from that presumption.
“The law also is that one who acquires possession of stolen property, under conditions and circumstances which would put a reasonable man who was honest upon inquiry as to the character of that property, is deemed to have just such knowledge of the character of the property as would come to him had he made the reasonable inquiries as to the source of the property which would .occur to an honest man (of average intelligence under the circumstances in which he got it; that one who takes into his possession personal property is chargeable with the duty of giving attention to those circum*887 stances attending Us reception of the property which in your judgment should have been deemed by Mm at the time to be suspicious and suggestive that the title of him who was transferring it was open to question.”
As we understand these portions of the charge, the jury was in substance instructed to find: (a) Whether the goods and chattels in issue were articles of interstate transportation; (b) whether they were stolen while in course of such transportation; (c) whether defendant came into possession of them; and, if these findings were in the affirmative, then to find (d) whether defendant received the articles knowing them to have been stolen. Later it was said of the statute:
“This law makes one of the essential elementsi of the offense possession with knowledge.”
If error was committed in respect of the ultimate issue of fact, it was not in defining it but in stating the tests to which the jury might resort in resolving the issue one way or the other. One of the tests was in effect that a person who receives property, which in fact is stolen property, under circumstances which would put a reasonable and honest man upon inquiry, is chargeable with such knowledge in that behalf as would have come to him had he made such reasonable inquiries, touching the source of the property, as would have occurred “to an honest man of average intelligence.” Another test was that one receiving personal property is chargeable with the particular effect of “those circumstances attending his reception of the property,” which, in the judgment of the jury, “should have been deemed by him at the time to be suspicious and suggestive that the title” of the transferor “was open to question.”
Plainly such tests as these of guilty knowledge on the part of the accused subjected him to a standard of conduct and of capacity to detect crime, which the jury might conclude to be the standard of reasonable and honest men of average intelligence when acting undfer circumstances like those which might be found to have existed here. The effect of such tests was to charge the accused with guilty knowledge or not upon what the jury might find would have induced belief in the mind of a man such as they were told to consider, rather than the belief that was actually created in the mind of the accused; or, at last, the accused might be condemned even if his only fault consisted in being less cautious or suspicious than honest men of average intelligence are of the acts of others. The result of the rule of the charge would be to convict a man, not because guilty, but because stupid. The issue was whether the accused had knowledge — not whether some other person would have obtained knowledge — that the goods had been stolen. The circumstances must have had that effect upon the mind of the accused, to constitute knowledge in him. The issue must be determined upon the individual test of the accused. It may well be that the tests stated in the charge are proper enough to fix civil liability for the acts or omissions of a defendant, but hardly to fasten upon him an intent to commit a felony. There is some conflict in the decisions upon this subject, but we think the tests of' the charge are opposed to the clear weight of authority; this may be fairly illustrated by the
“That the possession of stolen property imputes knowledge in the possessor that it was and is stolen, unless the possessor explains his possession in such a way as to free his mind [as to free him?] from that presumption.”
We gather from the context that this portion of the charge was intended to be applied only in case it should first be found, as already stated,- that the articles in issue— the tin and the brass or either — had been stolen while in course of interstate transportation, and that either or both had come into defendant’s possession; but in that event the jury was to approach the ultimate question subject to a presumption that defendant received the articles with knowledge that they had been stolen. This question was of course vital to defendant. He was not charged with the theft; the only tendency of the proofs in that behalf is that the theft was committed by others; and these acts, if committed, constituted larceny. The charges that defendant had the articles in his possession with knowledge of the theft do not in terms allege that such possession was taken in aid of the larceny; hence each charge made against defendant was for an offense distinct from the antecedent larceny. The instant case therefore differs from a case, where, for instance, tire statute so defines the act of receiving stolen property and that of stealing it as in effect to make the two offenses the same in character. Under a statute of that kind the receipt may amount to larceny, as well as the theft; and so the same presumption arising from recent possession that would be applicable to the thief might also be to the receiver. Thus in Martin v. State, 104 Ala. 71, 78, 16 South. 82, under an indictment for both larceny and knowingly receiving, it was held “that the recent possession of stolen goods,
“Any person, who buys, receives, conceals or aids in concealing any personal property whatever, knowing that it has been stolen, and not having the intent to restore it to the owner, must, on conviction, be punished as if he had stolen it.” 2 Crim. Code Ala. 1890, § 5054, p. 369.
To the same effect is Jenkins v. State, 62 Wis. 49, 21 N. W. 232, and also the statute (2 Sanborn & Berryman Ann. Stat. Wis. § 4417) ; moreover, the decisions mostly relied on there relate to cases of larceny (62 Wis. 57, 58, but see page 61, 21 N. W. 232); State v. Record, 151 N. C. 695, 697, 65 S. E. 1010, 25 L. R. A. (N. S.) 561, 19 Ann. Cas. 527, and 2 Pell’s Revisal of 1908 (N. C.) § 3507; and Reg. v. Eangmead (1864) 10 L. T. (N. S.) 350, 351, and 101 Stat. (24 and 25 Viet. 1861) 361, §§ 91, 92; and also 2 Archbold’s Crim. Pr. & Pl. 1422. The statute last referred to (and which apparently governed Langmead’s Case) provided that a person receiving stolen property, “knowing the same to have been feloniously stolen,” should be guilty of a felony and might be “indicted and convicted either as an accessory after the fact or for a substantive felony,” etc., and also provided that an indictment might contain a charge of “feloniously stealing any property,” and also one or more counts for “feloniously receiving the same or any part or parts thereof, knowing the same to have been stolen,” etc.; Eangmead was indicted and tried on two counts, one for stealing and the other for receiving, and was found guilty of feloniously receiving; Pollock, C. B., said (page 351):
“The distinction between the presumption as to felonious receiving and stealing is not a matter of law. No doubt, upon the evidence, no other person than the prisoner appears distinctly to enter into the transaction, and all that appears is that the prisoner was found very recently in possession of the stolen sheep. That prima facie is evidence of stealing rather than of receiving, but in no case can it be said to be exclusively such, unless ihe party is" found so recently in possession of stolen property, and under such circumstances as to exclude the probability of receiving;, as where a party is stopped coming out of a room with a gold watch which has been taken from tlie room; but if he has left the room so long as to render it probable that he may have received it from some one else, then it may be evidence either of stealing or of feloniously receiving.”
These decisions and the statutes affecting them are enough to illustrate the distinction, already mentioned, between cases of that character and the instant case. If those decisions cannot be so distinguished. we are unable to follow them; but must rather adopt the rule of the cases hereafter cited. We cannot think that the last quoted portion of the charge here is sustainable under either count 2 or count 3 of the present indictment. The charge is broad and unqualified; it states as matter of law “that the possession of stolen property imputes knowledge in the possessor that it was and is stolen”; and the defendant is at once put upon his proofs to free himself of that presumption. It might be that the circumstances shown to have attended the possession of property involved in a given case, not to say the case in hand, would, if unexplained by defendant, naturally lead the jury to believe that he received the property with knowledge that
“The defendant was not charged with larceny of the goods, and her possession could not be used as evidence tending to show that she had stolen them. Her possession must be regarded as innocent, unless shown to have been received with knowledge that they were stolen, or under circumstances which would satisfy the jury that she believed them to be stolen. Possession itself, without evidence tending to show such guilty knowledge, could have no tendency to establish her guilt. She did not, in fact, undertake to deny the possession, but admitting it, claimed she had come to the possession innocently, without notice that the goods were stolen. In the aspect the case had assumed when this question was proposed to the witness, guilty knowledge was practically the only question in dispute. But independent of the particular aspect the case had assumed upon the evidence, we think, in all prosecutions for this offense, it must, upon principle, be competent alike both for the prosecution and the defense to show what were the actual circumstances, the arrangement or understanding under which the goods were received by the defendant, whether the effect shall be to establish guilt or innocence. This is the res gestse, the very essence of the inquiry.”
See State v. Richmond, 186 Mo. 71, 82, 85, 84 S. W. 880; State v. Weinberg, 245 Mo. 564, 571, 150 S. W. 1069; People v. Weisenberger, 73 App. Div. 428, 429, 77 N. Y. Supp. 71; People v. Wilson, 151 N. Y. 403, 406, 45 N. E. 862; State v. Freedman, (Del. Ct. of Gen. Sess.) 3 Pennewill; 403, 405, 53 Atl. 356; State v. Janks, 26 Idaho, 567, 577, 578, 144 Pac. 779; Castleberry v. State, 35 Tex. Cr. R. 382, 383, 33 S. W. 875, 60 Am. St. Rep. 53; Territory v. Claypool & Lueras, 11 N. M. 568, 577, 71 Pac. 463; Slater v. United States, 1 Okl. Cr. 275, 98 Pac. 110, 113; Cooper v. State, 29 Tex. App. 8, 19, 13 S. W. 1011, 25 Am. St. Rep. 712; 2 Wharton’s Crim. Ev. (10th Ed.) § 760.
We conclude that the errors pointed out in the charge were prejudicial ; and an order will accordingly be entered reversing the judgment and remanding the case for new trial.
“Count II. And the grand jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do further present and find that the said Sam Kasle, heretofore, to wit, on or about the 7th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirteen, at the city of Toledo, Lucas county, Ohio, in the division and district aforesaid, and within the'jurisdiction of this court, unlawfully and feloniously did knowingly have in his possession certain goods and chattels, to wit, ten pigs of tin consisting of about eleven hundred and nineteen pounds of tin, which said goods and chattels had theretofore, to wit, on or about the 7th day of September, 1913, been a part of an interstate shipment-of freight in course of shipment in interstate commerce, and had been unlawfully and feloniously stolen, taken and carried away from a certain railroad station house at Toledo, in the county of Lucas, Ohio, known and described as the New York Central Terminal Freight Station, at Toledo aforesaid, while said goods and chattels were so in course of shipment in interstate commerce from the Pope Metals Company, at New York, in the state of New York, to the Union Steel Screen Company, at Albion, in the state of Michigan, he, the,said Sam Kasle,, at the time and place aforesaid, when as aforesaid he so unlawfully and feloniously had the said goods and chattels in his possession, well knowing the same to have been stolen — contrary to the form of the statute of the United States in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the United States.”
Relianee being placed by counsel on State v. Suppe, 60 Kan. 566, 567, 57 Pac. 106, and State v. Pollock, 105 Mo. App. 273, 277, 79 S. W. 980, among other citations.
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