DC Court of Appeals

On receiving stolen property in Lucas

Jamison KoehlerOpinions/Cases, Other Criminal Offenses, Theft/Fraud

Antonio Lucas robbed a man in Maryland.  He then traveled to D.C. where he was arrested. Mr. Lucas could not be charged in D.C. with the felony offense of robbery.  Because that crime had occurred in a different jurisdiction.  Instead, he was charged with — and ultimately convicted of – Receiving Stolen Property in violation of D.C. Code § 22-3232.  …

Owens v. United States: The Standard for Defining State-of-Mind in an RSP Case is a Subjective One

Jamison KoehlerOpinions/Cases, Theft/Fraud

In law school, we learned the difference between a subjective standard in defining a mental state and an objective one. The subjective standard focuses on the defendant’s actual state of mind. With the objective standard, it is how a reasonable person in the same position would feel. Most criminal statutes seem to use the objective standard. This simplifies things for …