diff --git a/ethutil/rlp.go b/ethutil/rlp.go
index 333a849279..cf7f97ffd9 100644
--- a/ethutil/rlp.go
+++ b/ethutil/rlp.go
@@ -32,12 +32,14 @@ const (
 	RlpEmptyStr  = 0x40
 )
 
+const rlpEof = -1
+
 func Char(c []byte) int {
 	if len(c) > 0 {
 		return int(c[0])
 	}
 
-	return 0
+	return rlpEof
 }
 
 func DecodeWithReader(reader *bytes.Buffer) interface{} {
@@ -46,8 +48,6 @@ func DecodeWithReader(reader *bytes.Buffer) interface{} {
 	// Read the next byte
 	char := Char(reader.Next(1))
 	switch {
-	case char == 0:
-		return nil
 	case char <= 0x7f:
 		return char
 
@@ -63,11 +63,7 @@ func DecodeWithReader(reader *bytes.Buffer) interface{} {
 		length := int(char - 0xc0)
 		for i := 0; i < length; i++ {
 			obj := DecodeWithReader(reader)
-			if obj != nil {
-				slice = append(slice, obj)
-			} else {
-				break
-			}
+			slice = append(slice, obj)
 		}
 
 		return slice
@@ -75,13 +71,12 @@ func DecodeWithReader(reader *bytes.Buffer) interface{} {
 		length := ReadVarInt(reader.Next(int(char - 0xf7)))
 		for i := uint64(0); i < length; i++ {
 			obj := DecodeWithReader(reader)
-			if obj != nil {
-				slice = append(slice, obj)
-			} else {
-				break
-			}
+			slice = append(slice, obj)
 		}
+
+		return slice
 	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("byte not supported: %q", char))
 	}
 
 	return slice
diff --git a/ethutil/value.go b/ethutil/value.go
index 85dc44ed67..3128cd724d 100644
--- a/ethutil/value.go
+++ b/ethutil/value.go
@@ -221,12 +221,15 @@ func (val *Value) Encode() []byte {
 func (self *Value) Decode() {
 	v, _ := Decode(self.Bytes(), 0)
 	self.Val = v
+	//self.Val = DecodeWithReader(bytes.NewBuffer(self.Bytes()))
 }
 
 func NewValueFromBytes(data []byte) *Value {
 	if len(data) != 0 {
-		data, _ := Decode(data, 0)
-		return NewValue(data)
+		value := NewValue(data)
+		value.Decode()
+
+		return value
 	}
 
 	return NewValue(nil)
diff --git a/peer.go b/peer.go
index 4b0523e705..fa683e4885 100644
--- a/peer.go
+++ b/peer.go
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ func (p *Peer) HandleInbound() {
 							}
 						}
 					}
-					if !p.ethereum.StateManager().BlockChain().HasBlock(lastBlock.Hash()) {
+					if !blockChain.HasBlock(lastBlock.Hash()) {
 						// If we can't find a common ancenstor we need to request more blocks.
 						// FIXME: At one point this won't scale anymore since we are not asking for an offset
 						// we just keep increasing the amount of blocks.