Court Opinion

ID: 9484306
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:47:54.146109+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:50:09.260303
License: Public Domain

FLOYD R. GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring specially.
I reluctantly concur with the majority’s opinion, and write separately to express my concern that a minute distinction between the word “send” and “mail” has been used to overturn a jury verdict. In everyday life, individuals use the words interchangeably; only under the scrutiny of the judicial microscope could such a distinction be grounds for reversal of a conviction. The New World *476Dictionary defines “send” as a verb that means “to dispatch, convey, or transmit (a letter, message, etc.) by mail, radio., etc. “Mail” is defined as a verb that means to “send by mail, as by putting into a mailbox; post.”9 Had the government proceeded to question Porter about whether he “sent” the falsified documents, we would not be addressing this issue. Unfortunately, however, the questioning did not go far enough and Porter is able to use an infinitesimal distinction in language to his advantage.

. NEW WORLD DICTIONARY (2d ed. 1974).