Fred H. Stegeman and Ione E. Stegeman v. United States

The Stegemans were convicted of violations of 18 U.S.C. § 152 . Count One of the indictment alleged that involuntary petitions in bankruptcy were filed against them in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon on December 15, 1960, and that, earlier the same month, in contemplation of bankruptcy proceedings, they knowingly and fraudulently transferred certain property from the District of Oregon to Canada. Count Two alleged that after the filing of the petition in bankruptcy they knowingly and fraudulently concealed within the District of Oregon certain property belonging to their bankruptcy estates.

The Stegemans do not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence. They rely instead upon specifications of error in the refusal of a requested instruction and in the admission of evidence.

I

In connection with the charge in Count Two, the Stegemans contend that it was error for the district court to refuse to instruct the jury that because the Stegemans were in Canada beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the district court from the date of the institution of the bankruptcy proceedings until the Stegemans were extradited to this country for prosecution, they had no…