Cite as: 505 U. S. 277 (1992)
Souter, J., concurring in judgment
It is clear that the Court of Appeals misapplied the commands of Teague by defining the rule from which West sought to benefit at an unduly elevated level of generality. There can, of course, be no doubt that, in reviewing West's conviction, the Supreme Court of Virginia was not entitled to disregard Jackson, which antedated the finality of West's conviction. But from Jackson's rule, that sufficiency depends on whether a rational trier, viewing the evidence most favorably to the prosecution, could find all elements beyond a reasonable doubt, it does not follow that the insufficiency of the evidence to support West's conviction was apparent. Virginia courts have long recognized a rule that evidence of unexplained or falsely explained possession of recently stolen goods is sufficient to sustain a finding that the possessor took the goods. See, e. g., Montgomery v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 188, 190, 269 S. E. 2d 352, 353 (1980); Henderson v. Commonwealth, 215 Va. 811, 812-813, 213 S. E. 2d 782, 783-784 (1975); Bazemore v. Commonwealth, 210 Va. 351, 352, 170 S. E. 2d 774, 776 (1969); Bright v. Commonwealth, 4 Va. App. 248, 251, 356 S. E. 2d 443, 444 (1987). In this case, we are concerned only with the Virginia rule's second prong. West took the stand and gave an explanation that the jury rejected, thereby implying a finding that the explanation was false.3 Thus, the portion of the state rule under attack here is that falsely explained recent possession suffices to identify the possessor as the thief. The rule has the virtue of much common sense. It is utterly reasonable to conclude that a possessor of recently stolen goods who lies about where he got them is the thief who took them, and it should come as no surprise that the rule had been accepted as good law against the backdrop of a general state sufficiency standard no less stringent than that of Jackson. See, e. g., Bishop v. Commonwealth, 227 Va. 164, 169, 313 S. E. 2d 390, 393 (1984);
3 The jury's finding must of course be accepted under the Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (1979), requirement to judge sufficiency by viewing the evidence "in the light most favorable to the prosecution." Id., at 319.
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