Opinion ID: 1903504
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: First Indictment Receiving and Unauthorized Use.

Text: The defendant, who does not contest the sufficiency of the proof of the other essential elements constituting the crime of receiving stolen property, contends, however, that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the automobile of Frederick W. Burkmar, reported as stolen, was the same in which the defendant was riding when he was apprehended by the police. Since it is also essential that there be proof that the automobile found in the possession of the defendant was stolen from its owner, the question is whether there was evidence of ownership or evidence from which ownership could be inferred. The evidence was thin  a condition for which there was no apparent excuse other than oversight or neglect since there should have been no difficulty in producing direct evidence of ownership  but we think there was enough for the trial court to draw an inference, which it obviously did, that the automobile had been stolen. The motor vehicle reported as stolen was a 1955 green and white Dodge sedan. The automobile in which the defendant was apprehended was of the same vintage, color and make, and was later identified by the wife of the owner on the police lot to which it had been towed. Moreover, neither the defendant nor the co-defendant could produce a registration card showing ownership by a person other than the owner named in the indictment. We think the evidence was sufficient to support conviction. Rule 741 c. The identity of stolen property may be established by circumstantial evidence where such evidence is sufficient to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save that of the guilt of the accused. Worley v. State, 91 Ga. App. 663, 86 S.E.2d 702 (1955). See also Wiggins v. State, 80 Ga. App. 213, 55 S.E.2d 821 (1949); 52 C.J.S. Larceny, § 132(a). In Smith v. State, 163 Tex. Cr., R. 265, 290 S.W.2d 530 (1956), in which the facts were somewhat similar to those in the present case, a 1946 Ford left at the owner's place of business on a Saturday was missing on Monday and was recovered by the owner from the police in another city several days later. A police officer had arrested the defendant while driving a Ford fitting the description of the stolen automobile which he turned over to the police department. No one identified the color, body type, motor number or license number, but it was held that the vehicle had been sufficiently identified. Since the defendant did not dispute his conviction of unauthorized use, no question as to that offense is before us.