Patrick Mac McAbee v. United States

Appellant appeals from his conviction upon multiple counts of an indictment charging him with violating 18 U.S.C. § 922 (i) (interstate transportation of stolen firearms) and 18 U.S.C. § 922 (j) (sale of stolen firearms transported in interstate commerce).

He challenges the constitutional validity of instructions to the jury that (1) from proof of his possession of recently stolen guns, if not satisfactorily ex plained, the jury could infer that he knew that the guns had been stolen, and (2) from proof of his possession in one state of guns that had been recently stolen in another state, if not satisfactorily explained, the jury could infer that he not only knew that the guns were stolen, but also that he had transported them or caused them to be transported in interstate commerce.

There was direct evidence that the 23 guns in question were stolen from a ranch house in Nevada between January 14 and February 6, 1969, when the house was temporarily unoccupied. Appellant had been briefly employed on the ranch some time before the theft. Appellant and his codefendant sold some of the guns in California. They had the remaining guns with them on a meandering trip from California to…