Opinion ID: 1326554
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The testimony of Phillip W. Ware.

Text: Phillip W. Ware, Manager of the Knoxville, Tennessee Claims Office of the Maryland Casualty Company, was called as a witness for the Commonwealth. Anticipating his testimony, counsel for Black argued, outside the presence of the jury, that any testimony by Ware that the two Jeeps were stolen would be hearsay, and that Ware's business records would only reflect what his company paid for the vehicles, not whether they were stolen. The trial judge announced that he would rule on the admissibility of the evidence as it was offered. Ware then testified without objection that he had the Maryland Casualty Company file pertaining to two stolen Jeeps. He recited, also without objection, the identification numbers of a 1979 and a 1980 Jeep that were identical to the hidden identification numbers of the Jeeps seized by the law enforcement officers. Over objection, Ware was permitted to testify that his company took title to the vehicles by paying Sharretts' Volkswagen, the insured, for them. When asked how the insurer took title, Ware's answer, unresponsive to the question, was, We paid them for the stolen Jeeps. Counsel for Black immediately moved for a mistrial, and the motion was overruled. No cautionary instruction was sought or given. On appeal, Black argues that the court's action in refusing to grant a mistrial denied him a fair trial by denying him his Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him. He asserts that the record shows that Ware's testimony that the Jeeps were stolen was hearsay evidence, inadmissible under the general rule excluding such evidence and not subject to the business-records exception. He says that Ware acknowledged that he had no personal knowledge of the Jeeps and that the company file in his possession from which he testified had been prepared in Pittsburgh by personnel who were not under his direction. See Ashley v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 705, 261 S.E.2d 323 (1980); Sprinkler Corp. v. Coley & Petersen, 219 Va. 781, 250 S.E.2d 765 (1979). We find it unnecessary to determine whether Ware's testimony that the Jeeps were stolen came within the business-records exception because we hold that any error in admitting this testimony was harmless. The evidence showed that the readily observable identification plates on the 1979 and 1980 Jeeps had been removed and replaced with plates taken from older vehicles. There was evidence that broken rivets were found in the 1980 Jeep, that remnants of an Environmental Protection Agency sticker scraped from the vehicle were scattered on the floor, and that some of the Jeep's trim and the manufacturer's logo giving the model and other information were in a trash barrel behind the vehicle. There was evidence as to the manner in which identification numbers are obliterated and the techniques that are used to retrieve the numbers to determine legal ownership of a vehicle from which the correct identification plate has been removed. This independent evidence showed beyond a reasonable doubt that the Jeeps had been stolen. The nature and extent of Black's participation and knowledge, if any, were the crucial questions, the answers to which depended upon the jury's evaluation of the credibility of witnesses and the weight of the evidence. In addition to the evidence as to the Jeeps, there was the evidence concerning the 1975 motorcycle to which Ware's testimony was not related. There was evidence to establish that the motorcycle was owned by Stoys, that it was stolen from him, and that he thereby sustained a loss of $2,000. This evidence alone was sufficient to support Black's conviction under the indictment charging him with receiving or concealing stolen goods. We hold that the trial court did not commit reversible error in overruling the motion for a mistrial.