Stephenson

Appellant was convicted of receiving eighteen five-gallon cans of coffee, the property of the United States of America, which had been stolen from a base warehouse at Nome, Alaska, with knowledge at the time of its receipt that the property had been stolen.

Joe Tester, a serviceman stationed at Nome Field, Alaska, testified to the effect that he and appellant agreed that Tester should steal the coffee and deliver it to appellant. That, pursuant to said prearranged plan, he, Tester, and a companion, took an Air Force truck and loaded it with coffee taken from the base warehouse and transported the coffee to-the Guianna Club by means of said truck and a jeep belonging to appellant, at which point appellant received the coffee. The Guianna Club is the name of a business operated by appellant in the suburbs of the city of Nome, Alaska.

Appellant makes four assignments of error but we conclude that a consideration of the second will suffice. The trial court found that Joe Tester, a witness for the Government, was not an accomplice as a matter of law, and refused to give an instruction to the effect that the testimony of an. accomplice should be viewed with distrust.

The authorities…