Cerron H. Hawkins v. United States

Following a bench trial, the judge found appellant guilty of second-degree theft of a bicycle that Metro Police officers, as part of a so called bait-bike operation, had placed on a bicycle rack near the entrance to a Metro station. Appellant, conceding that “[t]he only disputed evidence in this case relates ... to the element of intent” (Br. for Appellant at 7), argues that the trial judge misapprehended the law in rejecting his defense that he believed the bicycle had been abandoned, because the judge found that he could not reasonably have held that belief in the circumstances.

The…