Welch v. United States

• Decision Date: 22 November 1967
• Docket Number: No. 24542.,24542.
• Citation: 386 F.2d 189
• Parties: Wilton Arthur WELCH, Jr., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

386 F.2d 189 (1967)

Wilton Arthur WELCH, Jr., Appellant, v.UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 24542.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

November 22, 1967.

James R. Gillespie, Fred A. Semaan, San Antonio, Tex., for appellant.

Jeremiah Handy, Asst. U. S. Atty., Ernest Morgan, U. S. Atty., Western District of Texas, San Antonio, Tex., for appellee.

Before BROWN, Chief Judge, and BELL and THORNBERRY, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Appellant, having waived jury trial, was found guilty of receiving and selling a stolen vehicle in violation of 18 U.S. C.A. Section 2313.His appeal is based on a claim of insufficiency of the evidence in that the proof failed with respect to requisite knowledge on his part that the vehicle had been stolen.

It is clear that such knowledge may be established by circumstantial evidence and that possession of a stolen vehicle recently after its theft justifies the inference that the possession is guilty possession.This evidence may be of controlling weight unless it can be explained in some way consistent with innocence.Odom v. United States, 5 Cir., 1967, 377 F.2d 853 slip opinion, No. 23,464, May 2, 1967;Pilgrim v. United States, 5 Cir., 1959, 266 F.2d 486.The record discloses that appellant was in possession of the stolen vehicle on the day after it was stolen.He separately represented that he purchased the vehicle from two different persons but accounted...