Cohen v. People

The defendant, a junk dealer, was charged with, convicted of, and sentenced, for the crime of receiving stolen goods knowing them to have been stolen, to wit, certain copper wire found by the jury to have been of the value of $23.75. Nineteen assignments of error are presented, but in the view we take of the last, which challenges instruction number 14, it is unnecessary to consider any of the others. This instruction was objected to as being misleading, ambiguous, and unintelligible. It is as follows:

“The jury is instructed that where the people rely upon circumstances to secure a conviction…