Opinion ID: 2399899
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Evidence Concerning the Briefcase

Text: During the course of the chase that evening one of the occupants of the station wagon threw something from the vehicle. Later, one of the officers retrieved a briefcase in the vicinity which contained a number of telephone books, a note pad bearing several names and addresses, screwdrivers, and gloves. The defendant objected to introduction of the evidence, not because the contents of the case were not relevant or probative, but because there was no proof that the briefcase was the object thrown from the car and thus there was no evidence to link the briefcase with the defendant. The defendant fails to recognize that once the State had laid some foundation to connect the briefcase to the station wagon, it was for the jury to determine whether this was in fact the object thrown from the vehicle. On the evidence that the briefcase was found at approximately the same place where some object had been discarded, the State's hypothesis that the briefcase was the object thrown from the car was a credible explanation of the facts for the jurors to resolve in their own minds. State v. Greely, 115 N.H. 461, 344 A.2d 12 (1975). The trial court properly admitted the briefcase and its contents in evidence. Welch v. Bergeron, 115 N.H. 179, 182, 337 A.2d 341, 343-44 (1975). Defendant's exceptions overruled.