Opinion ID: 396224
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Clifton Hardy

Text: 2 Around Thanksgiving, 1979, Robert Roach Turberville and Willie Bubba Pierce 1 stole approximately 4,000 pounds of new, high quality, copper wire from the Redstone Arsenal outside of Huntsville, Alabama. 2 Turberville and Pierce cut the stolen copper wire into four-foot lengths and sold part of it to appellant Hardy on the night of the theft. Turberville testified that he told Hardy that the copper wire came from off the Arsenal, and that as far as he remembered Hardy said that he would get rid of it. Hardy paid the two thieves in cash and gave them no receipt, although he testified it was his usual practice to give receipts for property he bought. 3 3 On or about December 6, 1979, Turberville and Pierce returned to the Redstone Arsenal and stole another three thousand pounds of copper wire, again selling a portion of it to Hardy for cash with no receipt given. Altogether, Turberville and Pierce made five or six separate trips to Hardy's place to sell him quantities of the stolen copper wire. 4 4 In August, 1980, the FBI interviewed Hardy concerning the copper wire thefts. During that interview Hardy denied knowing Turberville and also denied buying any copper wire from him. When shown a picture of Turberville, Hardy told the FBI agent that he had never seen Turberville before. He did admit, however, that he had bought some copper wire from Pierce. 5 At trial Hardy testified that he owned a small livestock company and also ran a salvage company in back of his house. He further testified that he had little education and could not write; therefore he handled all of his transactions in cash. Hardy denied that he ever bought any scrap at night and specifically denied buying the stolen copper wire from Turberville and Pierce.