314
Souter, J., concurring in judgment
1982), which held that the evidence of unexplained or unconvincingly explained possession of recently stolen goods was not, without more, sufficient to prove theft, but must be weighed more exactly after asking five questions: (1) Was "the possession . . . recent, relative to the crime"? (2) Was a large majority of the stolen items found in the defendant's possession? (3) Did the defendant attempt to conceal the stolen items? (4) Was the defendant's explanation, "even if discredited by the jury, . . . 'so implausible or demonstrably false as to give rise to positive evidence in favor of the government' "? and (5) Was there corroborating evidence supporting the conviction? 931 F. 2d, at 268 (quoting Cosby, supra, at 1383, n. 19).
Applying Cosby to the facts of this case, the Court of Appeals found that all five factors were either neutral or advantageous to West: (1) Two to four weeks elapsed between the theft and the possession described in testimony,2 a time period consistent with West's explanation that he had bought the goods in the interval; (2) measured by value, a mere third of Cardova's belongings surfaced in West's possession; (3) the stolen items were found in plain view in West's home; (4) while "there was no third person testimony corroborating [West's] explanation and on cross-examination West exhibited confusion about the exact circumstances of some of the purchases[,] . . . he maintained his general explanation that he had purchased all the items at flea markets, and there was nothing inherently implausible about this explanation"; and, finally, (5) there was no evidence corroborating theft by West. 931 F. 2d, at 269-270. The Court of Appeals concluded that "the evidence here, assessed in its entirety and in the light most favorable to the prosecution, was not sufficient to persuade any rational trier of fact of [West's] guilt . . . ." Id., at 270.
2 The Court of Appeals overlooked that West testified that he came into possession of Cardova's goods around January 1. See App. 25-27. Thus, a more accurate estimate of the time lapse would be one to three weeks.
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