Justia Federal District Court Opinions

Convicted of violating Section 661, Title 18, denouncing as an offender 'whoever, within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States,¹ takes and carries away, with intent to steal or purloin, any personal property of another', defendant has appealed, assigning as his sole ground of error that the United States failed to prove that the place where the taking occurred was within the 'Special Territorial Jurisdiction of the United States'.

We think it quite clear that the assignment is without merit. Putting to one side the decision of this court in Brown v. United States, 5 Cir., 257 F. 46, that if, as was the case here, the place where the offense was committed was sufficiently described, the court will take judicial notice of facts which vest the United States with jurisdiction,² the record overwhelmingly, indeed conclusively, establishes the jurisdictional facts.

The judgment is affirmed.