Robert Glenn Bibbins v. United States

Robert Glenn Bibbins, appellant herein, was charged in an indictment filed in the District Court for the District of Nevada with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2312 (Dyer Act). Appellant, through counsel, waived a jury trial and the case was submitted to the district judge upon the following written stipulation of facts:

Appellant was convicted and filed a timely appeal to this court which has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. '§ 1291.

The sole issue raised by appellant is that his conviction must be reversed because the government failed to show that he knew or intended that the stolen automobile would or did cross the line from California to Nevada.

The plain terms of 18 U.S.C. § 2312 do not contain any requirement that the offender must knowingly transport the motor vehicle in interstate commerce. It only requires that there be knowledge that the vehicle is a stolen vehicle. Section 2312 reads in pertinent part: “Whoever transports in interstate * * * commerce a motor vehicle * * knowing the same to have been stolen, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”

While neither party has called our attention to a case raising exactly the same…