Case Title: State v. Hamlet

Citation: 340 S.E.2d 418

Docket Number: 437A85

State: north-carolina

Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Date: 1986-02-18T00:00:00Z

Document:
340 S.E.2d 418 (1986) STATE of North Carolina v. John Dean HAMLET. No. 437A85. Supreme Court of North Carolina. February 18, 1986. *419 Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by Archie W. Anders, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State. Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Acting Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant. BRANCH, Chief Justice. The sole question presented by this appeal is whether the Court of Appeals erred in holding that the doctrine of recent possession supported the convictions of felonious breaking or entering and larceny. We recognize that defendant has not complied with Rule 10(b)(3) of Rules App.Proc. However, pursuant to our Rule 2 of Rules App.Proc., we elect to consider his contention as to the insufficiency of the evidence. In instant case there was no direct evidence to support defendant's conviction of breaking or entering and larceny. Consequently, the State relied solely on the doctrine of recent possession to carry the case to the jury. This Court has long warned that in a criminal case presumptive evidence must be viewed with caution. In State v. Adams, 2 N.C. (1 Hayw.) 464 (1797), we find this language: Id. at 464. The purpose of the recency requirement is to determine whether the accused's possession of stolen property is sufficiently short under the circumstances of the case to rule out the possibility of a transfer of the stolen property from the thief to an innocent party. The possession must be so recent after the breaking or entering and larceny as to show that the possessor could not have reasonably come by it, except by stealing it himself or by his concurrence. State v. Weinstein, 224 N.C. 645, 31 S.E.2d 920 (1944), cert. denied, 324 U.S. 849, 65 S. Ct. 689, 89 L. Ed. 1410 (1945); Gregory v. Richards, 53 N.C. (8 Jones) 410 (1861). Annot. "What Is `Recently' Stolen Property," 89 A.L.R.3rd 1202, 1212 (1979). Although the passage of time between the theft and the discovery of the property in a person's possession is a prime consideration in establishing whether property has recently been stolen, our North Carolina Courts have also recognized that the nature of the property is a factor in determining whether the recency is sufficient to raise a presumption of guilt. Thus, if the stolen property is of a type normally and frequently traded in lawful channels, a relatively brief time interval between the theft and the finding of an accused in possession is sufficient to preclude an inference of guilt from arising. Conversely, when the article is of a type not normally or frequently traded in lawful channels, then the inference of guilt may arise after the passage of a longer period of time between the larceny of the goods and the finding of the goods in the accused's possession. State v. McRae, 120 N.C. 608, 27 S.E. 78 (1897); State v. Blackmon, 6 N.C. App. 66, 169 S.E.2d 472 (1969). Annot. "What Is `Recently' Stolen Property," 89 A.L.R.3rd 1202, 1213 (1979). The doctrine of recent possession is well stated in State v. Maines, 301 N.C. 669, 273 S.E.2d 289 (1981). There, Justice Huskins, for a unanimous Court, in part wrote: Id. at 673-74, 273 S.E.2d at 293. In instant case, the State has shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the property described in the bill of indictment was stolen and that the stolen goods were found in defendant's custody and subject to his control and disposition. However, there remains the question of whether defendant's possession was recently after the breaking or entering and larceny. We note that the stolen articles are of the type of property normally and frequently traded in lawful channels and that the evidence shows a time interval of approximately thirty days between the time the theft was discovered and the property found in defendant's possession. We hold, therefore, that under the circumstances of this case the State has failed to show that possession of the property by defendant was so recent as to support a presumption of guilt of breaking or entering and larceny. Thus, nonsuit was appropriate and the decision of the Court of Appeals finding no error in the trial judge's denial of defendant's motion to dismiss is REVERSED. MARTIN, Justice, dissenting. Whether the doctrine of possession of recently stolen property is sufficient to repel a motion for nonsuit must be determined on the facts and circumstances of each case. State v. Blackmon, 6 N.C.App. 66, 169 S.E.2d 472 (1969). Here, the evidence in the light most favorable to the state discloses: Mr. Dill's property (about $4,000 in value) was stolen sometime between 18 April and 16 May 1983; defendant was found in possession of some of the property on 16 May; he told the officers that the property belonged to him and moved it into a house; the next day he sold the TV to a Mr. Hamby; defendant testified that he had never seen the TV until 16 May when it was in the trunk of the car; the antenna wire on the TV had been cut when the officer saw it in the car; also in the car defendant was driving was a blue window fan, towels, linens, and other property; defendant and his girlfriend drove to Florida in the car immediately after the TV was sold on 17 May; when defendant was arrested in Florida on 30 May, the towels and linens were still in the car; a piece of broken fiber glass was found by the officers at the scene of the theft where the metal gate had been pushed open; this fiber glass matched a broken place in the fiber glass of the car defendant was driving when stopped by the officer. The majority notes, and relies upon its perception, that the stolen articles are of the type "normally and frequently traded in lawful channels." While that may be true of the stolen property when the items are considered separately, such diverse property as found in defendant's possession is rarely, if ever, sold collectively. Under such circumstances, the inference engendered by the doctrine survives a longer time interval. Blackmon, 6 N.C.App. 66, 169 S.E.2d 472. The time interval in Blackmon was twenty-seven days, only one day less than the maximum of twenty-eight *422 days under the evidence of this case, and when the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the state, as we must, the inference is that the time interval was even shorter. It is unlikely that the pushed-over metal gate on Mr. Dill's driveway could have existed for a long time unnoticed. The amount and diversity of the stolen property made it difficult for it to be assimilated into lawful trade channels. At least the towels and linens still remained in the possession of defendant in the car when he was arrested in Florida. This appeal is very similar to State v. Gove, 289 A.2d 679 (Me.1972). In Gove, the victim closed her house for the winter on 29 November 1970, and a break-in was discovered on 27 January 1971. Defendant, when arrested in a car on 27 January, had possession of various items of the stolen property, including pieces of china and a radio. As here, defendant Gove was in someone else's car. The Maine court held that the passage of fifty-nine days was not sufficient to prevent the jury finding beyond a reasonable doubt that the property found in defendant's possession was recently stolen. So in the case before us, the passage of twenty-eight days (at the most) is not sufficient to foreclose the jury finding that the property in defendant's possession was recently stolen. Furthermore, defendant's lame and contradictory attempt to explain his possession of the stolen property is severely damaged by defendant's lack of credibility arising from his four prior convictions of breaking or entering and larceny and a conviction for forgery. I find that the doctrine of recent possession, the placing at the crime scene of the car defendant was driving, defendant's continued possession of some of the property in the car when he was arrested, defendant's flight to Florida immediately following his sale of the television, and defendant's contradictory attempt to explain his possession of the property are sufficient to repel defendant's motion for directed verdict. I vote to find no error in defendant's trial.