Criminal Law Keyed to Kadish
Staples v. United States
ProfessorScott Caron
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
Defendant possessed a rifle that originally had a piece that precluded the gun from automatically firing, however that piece had bee filed down and was no longer effective. Defendant was convicted of violating the National Firearms Act, which makes possession of an unregistered firearm – a weapon capable of automatically firing more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger – punishable for up to 10 years in prison. At trial Defendant requested that the jury be instructed that the government had to prove that Defendant “knew that the gun would fire automatically”. The trial judge refused to give that instruction and Defendant was convicted. Defendant appealed and the conviction was affirmed. The Supreme Court of the United States granted review.
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15m 13s