Lesley Cohen v. United States
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
378 F.2d 751 (1967)
- Written by Brett Stavin, JD
Facts
Lesley Cohen (defendant) was charged by the federal government with two counts of knowing utilization of interstate facilities for the transmission of wagering information in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1084(a). The first count alleged that from September 16 through December 15, 1962, Cohen knowingly used interstate telephone facilities to transmit information from Las Vegas, Nevada, to San Francisco, California, for the purposes of facilitating wagers on San Francisco Forty-Niners football games. The second count alleged that Raymond Syufy, a bettor, placed a call to Cohen on September 25, 1962, to place a wager on a heavyweight boxing match. The district court instructed the jury that there was a rebuttable presumption that Cohen had knowledge of the illegality of the offense of utilization of interstate facilities for the transmission of wagering information. Cohen objected to the jury instruction on the ground that § 1084(a) was a new law and enacted close in time to the alleged offense. The jury convicted Cohen, and Cohen appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Browning, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.