United States v. Don Merkle Johnson, United States of America v. Julius Pastor Gant

Don Merkle Johnson and Julius Pastor Gant were convicted at trial by jury of four counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1708 , possession of stolen mail, specifically four welfare checks issued by the State of California. Johnson and Gant appealed separately; their appeals were consolidated for argument and decision. We affirm each judgment.

1. Johnson’s Appeal.

Johnson urges that the government failed to prove that the letters were in the mail, an essential element of the offense. He is mistaken. It was stipulated that the checks were duly placed in the mail, but were never received by the addressees. Letters are of course protected as within the mail and the subject of the charged offense, so long as they are in possession of the post office or in a mail receptacle. And the law is settled that the jury may infer “from the facts that a properly addressed and recently mailed item was never received by the addressee and that the item was found in defendant’s possession the further fact that the possessor stole the item from the mail.” United States v. Birnstihl, 441 F.2d 368, 369 (9th Cir. 1971); United States v. Hines, 256 F.2d 561 (2d Cir. 1958).

Johnson also urges reversal on the…