United States v. Daniel William

ORDER

The memorandum disposition filed on April 13, 2012 is withdrawn. An memorandum disposition is filed concurrently with this order.

With the memorandum disposition, all judges have voted to deny the petition for panel rehearing. The petition for rehearing is DENIED.

No further petitions for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc shall be entertained.

AMENDED MEMORANDUM

Daniel William appeals his conviction after a jury trial for mail theft and posses sion of stolen mail under 18 U.S.C. § 1708 , for which he was sentenced to five years of probation and three months of imprisonment. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

1. The district court improperly instructed the jury in a manner that permitted the inference that an element of the crime, which the government was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, had been fulfilled. “When, as here, a defendant objects to an instruction at trial, we review the district court’s formulation of the instructions for an abuse of discretion.” United States v. Warren, 25 F.3d 890, 898 (9th Cir.1994).

The jury was instructed that to establish mail theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1708 , the government was required…