Court Opinion

ID: 9685149
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:24:39.746325+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:02.719449
License: Public Domain

R. M. Maher, J.
(concurring in part; dissenting in part). I would affirm defendant’s conviction for attempting to break or enter a safe with intent to commit larceny. I cannot agree with the majority, however, that there was sufficient evidence to convict defendant of wilfully or maliciously burning a building.
Defendant’s presence in the building was inferred from footprints leading to and from that building. The tracks of those footprints, when followed, led to an apartment building where defendant was discovered hiding in the basement. The shoes worn by defendant had a pattern on their soles similar to the tracks in the snow. A box of money was found near the place defendant was hiding in the basement and safe insulation was found on his shoes and allegedly on his gloves.
It can be inferred from these circumstances that defendant was in the building. The inference is drawn from circumstantial evidence. It is not based upon uncertain or speculative facts, but upon proven facts. The inference is thus permissible. People v Eaves, 4 Mich App 457, 464; 145 NW2d 260 (1966).
In order to convict defendant of arson, however, we must infer that he was in the building and then that the matches found on his person could *55have come from the same book as those found at the building after the fire. Then we must infer that defendant started the fire. We draw farther and farther away from proven fact and move into the realm of speculation and possibility. Such a pyramiding of inferences is impermissible. People v Atley, 392 Mich 298; 220 NW2d 465 (1974). See also, People v Petro, 342 Mich 299; 70 NW2d 69 (1955). It deprives defendant of the right to be proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. People v McGregor, 45 Mich App 397; 206 NW2d 218 (1973).
The majority has simply abandoned the holding of People v Atley, supra. While stating that it exercises the caution suggested in Atley when using the language in Dirring v United States, 328 F2d 512 (CA 1, 1964), the majority in practice does not. It disregards the language in Atley which states that Dirring did not even involve an inference upon an inference, and it ignores the assertion in Atley that "the Dirring language, in its unconditional form, is clearly inadequate.” 392 Mich at 316, n 2.
The majority finds the no inference upon an inference standard to be misleading and uncertain of meaning. Yet the statement in Dirring, which the majority finds "clear and instructive”, that "if enough pieces of a jigsaw puzzle fit together the subject may be identified even though some pieces are lacking” is expressly disapproved in Atley as being "too subjective a view to establish a proper jury instruction or to decide whether a case may go to the jury or be directed notwithstanding a verdict”. 392 Mich at 316, n 2.
The no inference upon an inference rule is, indeed, a difficult concept. But that is no reason to abandon it, as the majority is only too anxious to do. A simpler concept is unsuitable to the complex *56nature of the evidentiary question here involved. Courts must, at times, deal with difficult concepts rather than opt for their abandonment. In cases such as the present one, abandoning the concept means that defendant loses the protection of his right to be proved guilty of each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
Aside from the impermissible pyramiding of inference upon inference, defendant’s conviction for arson fails under a separate standard. It is incumbent on the prosecution to show that there is no innocent theory possible which will, without violation of reason, accord with the facts. People v Millard, 53 Mich 63; 18 NW 562 (1884), People v Spann, 3 Mich App 444; 142 NW2d 887 (1966). In order to obtain a conviction upon circumstantial evidence, the prosecution must present evidence that not only points to defendant’s guilt but also negates any reasonable theory of innocence. People v Davenport, 39 Mich App 252; 197 NW2d 521 (1972), People v Wingfield, 62 Mich App 161; 233 NW2d 220 (1975), People v Talley, 67 Mich App 239; 240 NW2d 496 (1976).
In this case, the prosecution did not negate every reasonable theory of innocence. There is a reasonable possibility that the matches found on defendant’s person did not come from the book of matches found in the burned building. There is likewise a reasonable possibility that defendant did not use the matches to start the fire. The possibilities comprising the theory of defendant’s innocence were not negated by the prosecution. The circumstantial evidence was insufficient to support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt of defendant’s guilt. People v Talley, supra, at 243-244. I would reverse defendant’s conviction for arson.