Opinion ID: 2309090
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the motion for new trial in respect to the charge of burglary

Text: At oral argument counsel for defendant argued that the trial justice erred in failing to grant defendant's motion for new trial on the charge of burglary because the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the offense had been committed in the nighttime. In applying the rule of State v. Dame, supra , we look to the response of the trial justice to the motion. He analyzed the evidence and determined: [T]he end of this frightening episode was possibly around five o'clock. The beginning of the incident was long before that or sometime before that. The testimony of the victim was that the activity in the bedroom that this defendant participated in was for approximately fifteen minutes before the time she called the police. It was five o'clock before the police were called. So the time factor, if you want to use what the court took judicial notice of, would bring the time that this activity took place was prior to quarter to five, sometime before quarter to five and possible a short while after 4:30. So I'm satisfied in accepting the testimony of Miss Martel that this intrusion and the burglary occurred when it was still darkness, when visibility by daylight was not available to anyone. Thus, the trial justice agreed with the verdict of the jurors whom he had properly instructed concerning the necessity of a finding that the crime of burglary must be committed during the nighttime. The jurors and the trial justice were entitled to draw the inferences that they did on the basis of the evidence presented. It is most important to note that the burglary was complete at the time the breaking and entering took place with the felonious intent. This breaking and entering of necessity took place sometime before the encounter with the victim. See 3 Wharton's Criminal Law § 334 at 205, (Torcia 1980). The trial justice did not err in denying the motion for new trial in respect to the crime of burglary. For the reasons stated, the defendant's appeal is denied and dismissed. The judgment of conviction is affirmed. The papers in the case may be remanded to the Superior Court.