Court Opinion

ID: 9738378
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:51:34.34266+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:05.671488
License: Public Domain

V. J. Brennan, P. J.
(dissenting). I must respectfully dissent from my brother’s opinion.
The majority relies on People v Davenport, 39 Mich App 252; 197 NW2d 521 (1972), for the proposition that "where the people’s case is based on circumstantial evidence the prosecution has the burden of proving 'that there is no innocent theory possible which will, without violation of reason, accord with the facts’ ”. (Citations are omitted.) A careful reading of Davenport convinces me that it is inapposite to the case at bar. In Davenport the defendant was charged with possession of heroin. The evidence consisted of a quantity of heroin found in a brown bottle contained in a bag in the basement of a house occupied by the defendant and three other persons. The bag also contained small plastic containers, one of which was labelled as a prescription for another resident of the house, and one of which was labelled as a prescription for the defendant. The Court reasoned, therefore, that since there was no evidence linking the defendant with the brown bottle or the bag, and since there were, therefore, innocent theories — unrebutted by any evidence — which accorded with the facts, that the prosecution had not borne its burden of proving that there was no innocent theory which would, without violation of reason, accord with the facts. The Court reasoned that it was as likely that anyone else living in the house, who would have *245had equal access to the basement, was in fact the possessor of the heroin. See Davenport, supra, 257.
In the case at bar the facts are substantially different and stand uncontroverted. The complainant parked his truck and left the engine running and went into a drug and liquor store. Five or ten minutes later police officers found the truck parked nearby in an alley with some of the merchandise missing. An eyewitness at the scene observed the three defendants removing goods from the truck and placing them in a Buick described as "gold with a dark top, a deuce and a quarter”. This eyewitness later identified the three defendants as the people he saw. Within five minutes or so, police officers saw a 1967 Buick Electra 225 fitting the description of the car given by the eyewitness. When they approached the car and looked in through the window into the back seat they saw what appeared to be baked goods, which, upon closer examination, turned out to be goods such as those missing from the complainant’s truck. This entire sequence of events occurred within minutes (possibly as few as 15 or 20 minutes) of the time the complainant observed his truck being driven away.
A jury may draw reasonable inferences from facts established either by direct or circumstantial evidence, but may not indulge in inferences wholly unsupported by any evidence. People v Weyonen, 247 Mich 308; 225 NW 552 (1929). Further, in order to allow a jury to infer the guilt of a defendant from circumstantial evidence, the facts proven tending to show the guilt of the defendant must be consistent with each other and must not only clearly indicate the guilt of the defendant, "but must be inconsistent with any other reasonable hypothesis upon which his innocence may be *246maintained”. 2 Gillespie, Michigan Criminal Law and Procedure (2d Ed), § 906, p 1216. (Emphasis added.) Here, unlike Davenport, supra, it cannot be said that it was "as likely” that anyone else who would have had equal access to complainant’s truck unlawfully drove it away. In the case at bar I think the prosecution carried its burden by the showing of uncontroverted facts, clearly pointing to the guilt of the defendants, and which were inconsistent with any other reasonable hypothesis upon which their innocence might be maintained. Certainly, no reasonable hypothesis comes to my mind which could possibly explain the facts of this case consistent with the innocence of the defendants, and, it is noteworthy that the defendants did not favor the trial court with any such theory except for some brief statements in closing arguments by the defendants’ counsel. Finally, the jury was properly charged, and after hearing all the evidence, found the defendants guilty. I would not take this matter out of the hands of the jury.
I have carefully examined the other allegations of error and have found them to be without merit and not of a compelling enough nature to warrant decisional discussion.
I would affirm.