Don R. Jiron v. United States

Appellant, convicted by a jury of the knowing interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle ( 18 U.S.C. § 2312 ), raises but one claimed error on this appeal. It is that the trial court refused to give an instruction to the jury that: “the burden of proving transportation was on the government,” and that: “the possession of property stolen in another state raises no presumption that the possessor transported it in interstate commerce.” (Emphasis added.) The court did, however, several times instruct the jury (A) that “the burden is always on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt every essential element of the crime,” (R.T. 74; 81; 84), (B) that “there are two essential elements” of the crime charged against appellant, “First, the act of transporting in interstate commerce a stolen motor vehicle * *; second, doing such an act wilfully and with knowledge that the motor vehicle had been stolen” (R.T. 81); (C) “that possession of property that has been recently stolen, if not satisfactorily explained, is ordinarily a circumstance from which the jury may reasonably draw the inference, and find, in the light of the circumstances shown by the evidence, that the person…