Title: State v. Green

State: kansas

Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court

Document:

237 Kan. 146 (1985)
697 P.2d 1305
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellant,
v.
THOMAS DEAN GREEN, Appellee.
No. 57,246

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed April 5, 1985.
Mark Knight, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Robert T. Stephan, attorney general, Jerry L. Harper, district attorney, and Steve Hopkins, legal intern, were on the brief for the appellant.
Craig W. Huntley, of Hamilton, Huntley, & McRorey, of Olathe, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
SCHROEDER, C.J.:
This is an appeal by the prosecution from an order of the court dismissing the complaint and discharging the defendant at the close of the preliminary hearing. The defendant, Thomas Dean Green, was charged with one count of theft in violation of K.S.A. 21-3701.
The sole issue on appeal is whether the State presented sufficient evidence to have the defendant bound over for trial.
*147 The facts disclosed at the preliminary examination, concisely stated, were as follows: Around midnight on the evening of January 24, 1984, the defendant and his two friends  Dwight Thuro and Jeff McDaniels  drove in Thuro's car from their home in Wellsville, Kansas, to Lawrence, Kansas, for the purpose of "just driving around." They drove by Turner Chevrolet once, and then went back and stopped there for the purpose of taking some new wheels and tires for Thuro's car. There was no clear evidence presented at the preliminary hearing that the defendant was involved in the decision to commit the theft. McDaniels testified that he thought Thuro and the defendant might have discussed the idea during the ride to Lawrence, but he was uncertain and admitted he couldn't hear much as he was sitting in the back seat. Thuro testified that he made the decision to stop at Turner's after driving by and seeing the new tires. He said nothing about discussing the idea on the way to Lawrence.
Upon arriving at Turner's, Thuro and McDaniels proceeded to remove the tires and wheels from a Chevrolet pickup truck. Meanwhile, the defendant took Thuro's car and left because he wanted nothing to do with the theft. Both Thuro and McDaniels testified that the defendant had nothing to do with taking the tires. The defendant later returned to pick up his companions. Thuro and McDaniels loaded the tires into the trunk of Thuro's car. McDaniels was unsure whether it was the defendant or Thuro who unlocked the trunk, but Thuro remembered unlocking it himself. The defendant did not help load the tires.
Later, after leaving the scene, the car was stopped for minor traffic violations at which time the tires were discovered. The tires were worth over $100 making the theft a Class D felony. See K.S.A. 21-3701. Thuro pled guilty to the charges and McDaniels entered into a diversion agreement with the State, prior to Green's preliminary hearing.
At the close of the hearing, the court said:
....
The nature and purpose of the preliminary examination was set out in State v. Jones, 233 Kan. 170, 660 P.2d 965 (1983), and reiterated in State v. Huff, 235 Kan. 637, 639, 681 P.2d 656 (1984), as follows:
Additionally, in State v. Zimmerman & Schmidt, 233 Kan. 151, 158, 660 P.2d 960 (1983), we stated:
Probable cause was defined in State v. Huff, 235 Kan. at 640, quoting Coleman v. Burnett, 447 F.2d 1187, 1202 (D.C. Cir.1973), as:
*149 The question before the trial judge  and now before this court  is whether the circumstances disclosed by the evidence presented were sufficiently strong in themselves to warrant a person of ordinary prudence and caution in the belief that the defendant aided and abetted Thuro and McDaniels in the commission of the theft.
In their argument, the State relies on two recent Kansas cases: State v. Wilson & Wentworth, 221 Kan. 359, 559 P.2d 374 (1977), and State v. Burton, 235 Kan. 472, 681 P.2d 646 (1984). Both of these cases involved a "wheel man" who was held to have intentionally aided and abetted in the commission of the crime. The "aiding and abetting" rule was stated in Burton as follows:
Based on the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing, we find that the defendant was nothing more than a "mere associate" with the principals. There was no evidence, not even circumstantial, to indicate he was "willfully furthering the success of the venture." Both of the State's witnesses testified that they believed the defendant wanted nothing to do with the theft.
Therefore, we affirm the trial court's finding that there was insufficient evidence to establish probable cause that the defendant committed the crime charged.
The judgment of the lower court is affirmed.
MILLER, J., dissenting:
The majority in this case, in my opinion, has failed to draw proper and reasonable inferences from the evidence, has ignored some of the evidence favorable to the State, and has taken as true that evidence adverse to the State. It has therefore reached an erroneous conclusion.
McDaniels, Thuro and Green, at midnight, drove from Wellsville *150 to Lawrence for the purpose of "just driving around." They drove by Turner Chevrolet once, then they went back and stopped for the purpose of taking some wheels and tires for Thuro's car. McDaniels and Thuro got out of the car for the purpose of removing the tires and wheels from a vehicle on the car lot. Green drove off, knowing what the other two were up to, and knowing that he was to come back to pick up the other men and the stolen tires. In my judgment, Green actively assisted in the theft in two ways: First, he drove the car away from the crime scene, thus keeping that vehicle from being parked where law enforcement officers and the public could see it while his confederates were removing the wheels and tires from a new truck on the dealer's lot. And, second, he returned at an appropriate time to pick up McDaniels and Thuro  and the stolen goods. Had Green not driven the car back, McDaniels and Thuro would have had no way to take the tires and wheels away.
I do not believe that we are required to accept as the truth the testimony of McDaniels, Thuro and Green that Green wanted nothing to do or had nothing to do with the theft, particularly when the facts show his active help, aid and cooperation. Had Green walked away when the car first stopped at the Chevrolet dealership, or had he not returned when he was driving around in the car, his actions might have shown that he wanted nothing to do with the theft. What he actually did, however, demonstrates his intention more clearly than his words. This court is accepting the testimony as gospel, and is ignoring the facts.
In my judgment, Green should have been bound over for trial. His guilt or innocence should be left to a jury and not determined by a magistrate or this court.
McFARLAND and HERD, JJ., join the foregoing dissent.