D.C. Appeals Judges Ponder Value of an
iPod
Think you know how much your iPod is worth? Seems like a simple
enough question, but if you want to prove it in the District of Columbia, you’re
going to have to come ready with a lot more than just the purchase price.
Today the D.C. Court of Appeals vacated the conviction of John
Foreman, who had allegedly stolen one of the Apple MP3 players back in April
2007, finding that prosecutors failed to show the device was worth at least
$250, the minimum amount required for the first degree theft charge on which he
was found guilty.
The victim in the case, Marcus Curry, testified that he had
received the iPod in 2006 as a Christmas gift from his mother, who told the
court that she had bought it for about $250. But in an opinion by Senior Judge
Michael Farrell, the court found that the prosecutors failed to offer evidence
that iPods retain their market value over time, leaving the jury to speculate
whether that was actually the case. (In 2006, a 30 gigabyte iPod 5G retailed
for about $249. The opinion doesn’t state whether that was the model Curry
owned).
The government, represented on appeal by assistant U.S.
attorney Sarah Chasson, argued that the iPod’s value was based partly on the
more than 400 songs the victim had loaded onto it. But the court noted that the
victim never testified how much he paid for the songs, some of which, he said,
were downloaded for free.
“Permitting jurors here to rely on their own experience of what
iPod downloads cost would not be a proper drawing of inferences ‘from the facts
. . .proven in light of [their] own experience,’” Farrell wrote, “rather, it
would substitute for a failure of proof on the point.”
The
three judge panel, which included Farrell and Judges Anna Blackburne-Rigbsy and
Phyllis Thompson, remanded the case back to the trial court, where it was first
heard by Judge Harold Cushenberry, to consider a lesser theft charge. Curry was
represented by a team from the D.C. Public Defender Service, including
Christine Monta.
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