[Download] "United States V. Ring" by United States Court Of Appeals For The Sixth Circuit # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: United States V. Ring
- Author : United States Court Of Appeals For The Sixth Circuit
- Release Date : January 02, 1975
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 61 KB
Description
This is an appeal from a conviction, by jury, of mailing threatening letters in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 876, P 3.*fn1 Appellant contends, inter alia, that the district court erred in admitting, during the prosecution's case in chief, evidence that he had previously threatened over the telephone a person other than the recipient of the threatening letters that were the reason for the indictment. The dispositive issue is whether this evidence of prior threats was admissible to show the accused's criminal intent. We hold that it was not, and that evidence that the accused had made threats in the past was inadmissible under the "intent" exception to the general rule excluding evidence of prior misconduct. Although intent is an element of the offense charged in the indictment, intent was not a genuinely contested issue in the case because appellant had not asserted mistake or an innocent state of mind as a defense. When no such defense is asserted, the element of intent may be inferred from the act of mailing but may not be proved in the prosecution's case in chief by similar act evidence.