People v. Katz

In People v. Katz (1975) 47 Cal. App.3d 294, a secondhand dealer was charged with a violation of Penal Code section 496 by receiving stolen property. A presumed fact of knowledge of the stolen character of the property was relied upon by the prosecution. The court emphasized that the presumed fact could be found to exist only by proof by the prosecution, beyond a reasonable doubt, of the following basic facts of the presumption: (1) that the defendant was a secondhand dealer; (2) that he obtained property which had been stolen; (3) that he obtained such property under circumstances that should have caused him to make reasonable inquiry to ascertain the right of the person from whom he received the property to sell or deliver it to him; and (4) that he did not make reasonable inquiry.