## Facts

- John E. Kanan wrote three checks totaling $75 to a liquor store over one week in February 1972.
- The store deposited the checks, but they were returned because Kanan’s bank account had been closed after being overdrawn.
- The prosecution relied on bank mailings (monthly statements and a closure notice) to show Kanan knew his account status.
- Evidence conflicted on whether Kanan actually received key statements; some were returned undelivered.
- Kanan was convicted of felony “passing short checks” under Colorado’s short check statute and sentenced to the state penitentiary.
- At trial, the court instructed the jury that a person who draws and delivers a check “carries with it a representation” that the person knows the account status and that sufficient funds exist.

## Issues

1. Whether a jury instruction stating that issuing a check represents the drawer’s knowledge of account status and sufficient funds impermissibly creates a presumption on the statutory element of knowledge.
2. Whether that instruction reduces or shifts the prosecution’s burden to prove knowledge beyond a reasonable doubt, violating the presumption of innocence.

## Decision

- The Colorado Supreme Court reversed the conviction and remanded for a new trial.
- The court held the instruction improperly relieved the prosecution of proving the element of knowledge.
- The court rejected the use of a presumption of guilt to obtain a conviction in a bad-check prosecution.

## Legal Principles

- In a short-check prosecution, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew there were insufficient funds to pay the check.
- Jury instructions may not create a mandatory presumption on a material element of a crime that reduces the prosecution’s burden of proof.
- Prejudice is inevitable when an instruction reduces the prosecution’s burden on a material element, because it undermines the presumption of innocence.

## Conclusion

Because knowledge of insufficient funds was an essential statutory element, the instruction converting the act of issuing a check into a representation of such knowledge created an impermissible presumption and reduced the prosecution’s burden; the conviction was reversed and the case remanded for a new trial.


People v. Kanan, 526 P.2d 1339 (Colo. 1974)