Court Opinion

ID: 9447760
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 22:43:52.441342+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:11.070831
License: Public Domain

BASTIAN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The point on which this case is reversed was not raised by counsel in the District Court nor by counsel in this court. I see no justification for the exercise of our right under Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b) to recognize plain error affecting substantial rights. Certainly counsel did not consider the omission error; the trial court was not asked to enlarge his charge to the extent required by the opinion of the majority.
Further, I think the trial judge’s charge was entirely adequate. First, he stated:
“The defendant is charged with a crime known as transportation of a falsely made and forged security in interstate commerce. The specific charge is that on or about September 7, 1959, he presented at a filling station, a gasoline station, in nearby Edgewater, Maryland, a forged check, knowing it to be forged, and that he had requested that the check be cashed, and that it was cashed. That thereafter the forged check, being drawn on a bank located in Washington, it was transported from Maryland to the District of Columbia. That is the specific charge against the defendant.’' [Emphasis supplied.]
Second, thereafter he stated:
“[T]he burden of proof is on the Government to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Unless the Government sustains this burden, and proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant has committed every element of the offense charged, the jury must find him not guilty.” [Emphasis supplied.].
Third, later in his charge he read the statute:
“This brings me to specific rules that are applicable to the case on trial.
“The pertinent provisions [sic] of the statute which defines this crime reads as follows:
“ ‘Whoever, with unlawful or fraudulent intent, transports in interstate or foreign commerce any falsely made, forged, altered, or counterfeited securities, knowing the same to have been falsely made, forged, altered, or counterfeited; shall be punished by the penalty prescribed by the statute.’ ” [Emphasis supplied.]
*343He then stated the elements of the offense that the Government must establish:
“First, that a forged security was involved.
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“The second element that the Government must establish is that the defendant caused the forged security to be transported in interstate commerce. * * *
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“The third element that must be established is that the defendant committed the act with an unlawful and fraudulent intent.”
As I stated above, it seems to me that the charge was entirely adequate. Further, I think the evidence of appellant’s guilt was overwhelming.
So I dissent.