Opinion ID: 734228
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Foreign Commerce

Text: 34 Kim also maintains that the Government failed to prove both as a matter of fact and of law that the goods were in foreign commerce when they were stolen. 35 First, Kim argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove that the tools were in foreign commerce when they were stolen, because the Government did not prove that they had not already reached their final destination. Kim propounds an alternate theory that the tools could have been delivered to their final destination, and then returned to the transport company prior to the theft. However, he provides no evidence to support this speculation. 36 In addition, the Government presented testimony that the goods were to be unloaded from the container in Fontana, California, not the temporary holding site in Long Beach. As the parties stipulated that an entire container of tools was stolen, it is reasonable to infer that the tools had not been delivered to Fontana, unloaded, repacked and returned to Long Beach. Thus, the evidence presented was sufficient to prove that the tools had not reached their final destination. See United States v. Taylor, 802 F.2d 1108, 1115-16 (9th Cir.1986) (holding that rational juror could conclude that stolen bonds had moved from New York to Las Vegas and thus were transported in interstate commerce), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1094, 107 S.Ct. 1309, 94 L.Ed.2d 164 (1987). 37 Kim also argues that as a matter of law, even if the goods stolen from the Long Beach transportation yard had not yet reached their final destination, the tools were still not in foreign commerce. We have held that [t]he determination of whether a shipment is in interstate commerce at a given time is essentially a practical one.... United States v. Cousins, 427 F.2d 382, 384-85 (9th Cir.1970) (concluding as a matter of law that liquor was in interstate commerce at time of theft). It is well established that evidence that goods have not yet reached their final destination is sufficient to prove that they are still in foreign commerce. United States v. Padilla, 457 F.2d 1403, 1404-05 (9th Cir.1972) (holding that goods stolen from port warehouse were still in ambit of foreign commerce); Cousins, 427 F.2d at 385 (holding that goods were still in foreign commerce when theft occurred from sealed railroad car before consignee accepted shipment). The Government presented adequate evidence to prove that the tools had not reached their final destination. Therefore, as a matter of law, the jury could conclude that the tools were still in foreign commerce when they were stolen. 38 AFFIRMED.