Court Opinion

ID: 9661909
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:54:24.563259+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:35.001107
License: Public Domain

V. J. Brennan, J.
(dissenting). The defendant herein was convicted by a judge sitting without a jury of larceny in a building (MCLA 750.360; MSA 28.592) for which he received a sentence of from two to four years in prison. On this appeal of right, the defendant raises but one issue: Was there sufficient evidence to convict the defendant of the crime charged?
At the trial, the complainant, Mr. Thomas S. Davis, testified that on October 23, 1970, he owned an automobile repair shop and at 2 p.m. that day he closed the premises and locked the doors and gave no one permission to enter. He returned later around 6 p.m. and found that the front door had been entered and that a broken window in the front door apparently facilitated entry. It was discovered that the complainant’s tools, tires, buffing machine, vacuum cleaner, and shotgun were missing; he estimated the worth of these removed goods to be approximately $2,000. The stolen items were never recovered.
Upon the trial in this matter, several witnesses were called who testified that, among other things, the defendant had made a statement to the complainant, "we would get straight”. This was in reference to the complainant’s loss.
The trier of the facts heard several witnesses; one Mr. Mallon Youngblood testified that when he *511passed the building at around 4:30 or 5 o’clock he saw the defendant, whom he knew, standing on the side of the building in possession of a buffing machine and a mechanic’s toolbox. He further testified that he recognized those items as belonging to the complainant. The trial judge also heard a Mr. Roosevelt Jackson testify that when he passed the building on the day in question he observed the defendant standing in front and not more than several minutes later when he returned he saw the defendant standing on the side of the building in possession of the complainant’s buffing machine and toolbox. Another witness, Lewis E. Scott, testified that he saw the defendant standing next to the garage with the toolbox, vacuum cleaner and buffing machine next to him; he further testified that it looked like the property of Davis.
I disagree with the majority’s application of existing authority to these facts, and to the conclusion they reach thereby. Here we had defendant in possession of the stolen goods, we had his presence at the scene of the crime plus an inculpatory statement. These facts more than sustain a conviction of larceny. People v McDonald, 13 Mich App 226 (1968); People v Moore, 39 Mich App 329 (1972); People v Brown, 42 Mich App 608 (1972).
I would affirm.