State of New Hampshire v. John A. Smith

The defendant, John A. Smith, appeals the sentence imposed by the Superior Court (Fitzgerald, J.) following his conviction by a jury of receipt of stolen property. See RSA 637:7, :11,1(b) (2007). The sole issue for our review is whether the trial court committed plain error by imposing a felony-level sentence, see RSA 637:11, 1(b), instead of a *41misdemeanor-level sentence, see RSA 637:11, III (2007), when the jury was not instructed that it had to find that the stolen property consisted of firearms. See RSA 637:11,1(b). We affirm.

The jury could have found the following facts. In the summer of…