Court Opinion

ID: 9650794
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:52:15.952391+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:24:59.980034
License: Public Domain

NEWMAN, Chief Judge,
dissenting:
I decline to join the majority’s unprincipled holding that because an object looked like a pistol and was described by the victim of an armed robbery as being one, a jury could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that it was a pistol in operable condition. To affirm a conviction of carrying a pistol without a license on such lack of proof of operability raises issues of constitutional dimension. See Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975) (prosecution must establish each element of an offense beyond a reasonable doubt); Thompson v. City of Louisville, 362 U.S. 199, 80 S.Ct. 624, 4 L.Ed.2d 654 (1960) (conviction devoid of evidentiary support violates the Due Process Clause).