Brief Fact Summary. Defendant was convicted of violating a federal eavesdropping law for listening to phone calls of his estranged wife. He was acquitted on post-trial motion arguing that the government failed to prove the phone company’s carrier status as required by the law.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. In a criminal case, a jury is not required to accept any judicially noticed fact.
If a court can take one important element of an offense from the jury and determine the facts for them because such facts seems plain enough to him, then which element cannot be similarly taken away, and where would the process stop.
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