George G. Rogers v. United States (522 U.S. 252)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 14, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 522 U.S. 252 · 118 S. Ct. 673
- Decided
- January 14, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Petition denied or appeal dismissed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens announced the decision of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which Justice Thomas, Justice Ginsburg, and Justice Breyer join. We granted certiorari, 520 U. S. 1239 (1997), to decide whether a district court’s failure to instruct the jury on an element of an offense is harmless error where, at trial, the defendant admitted that element. Because we have concluded that the question is not fairly presented by the record, we dismiss the writ as improvidently granted. J — 4 Petitioner was charged with the knowing possession of an unregistered and unserialized firearm described as “a 9" by 1SA" silencer,” App. 6-7, in violation of 26 U. S. C. §§ 5861(d) and (i). Although he claimed that he did not know that the item was in a canvas bag found behind the driver’s seat in his pickup truck when he was arrested, he candidly acknowledged that he knew it was a silencer. He repeated this admission during questioning by the police and in his testimony at trial; moreover, it was confirmed by his lawyer during argument to the jury. Under our decision in Staples v. United States, 511 U. S. 600 (1994), the mens rea element of a violation of § 5861(d) requires the Government to prove that the defendant knew that the item he possessed had the characteristics that brought it within the statutory definition of a firearm. It is not, however, necessary to prove that the defendant…
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