Court Opinion

ID: 9560848
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:57:34.821193+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:15.313708
License: Public Domain

Abbott, J.,
dissenting: I would affirm the trial court.
Here, the station owner, Chong Su Kwon, pumped the gasoline into the defendant’s car, rehung the hose, replaced the gas cap, *261and then attempted to collect for the sale. In response, the defendant raised his right arm underneath a jacket as if he had a weapon and said, “I don’t have money. How about this.” Kwon believed the defendant was pointing a gun at him and jumped away from the car. The defendant then drove out of the station.
Kwon immediately reported the incident. The police stopped the defendant a short time later for exceeding the speed limit in a school zone. No weapon was recovered from the defendant or from his vehicle.
In my opinion, the majority opinion states the general rules, but misapplies them:
“As early as 1894, this court addressed the question of when the force or threat must occur in order to constitute the crime of robbery rather than theft. In State v. Miller, 53 Kan. 324, Syl. ¶ 1, 36 Pac. 751 (1894), we stated:
‘To constitute the crime of robbery by forcibly taking money from the person of its owner, it is not necessary that violence to the person of the owner should precede the taking of the money; it is sufficient if it be contemporaneous with the taking.’
“In keeping with Miller, Kansas follows the general rule:
‘[T]o constitute the crime of robbery by forcibly taking [property] from the person of its owner, it is necessary that the violence to the owner must either precede or be contemporaneous with the taking of the property and robbery is not committed where the thief has gained peaceable possession of the property and uses no violence except to resist arrest or to effect his escape.’ State v. Aldershof, 220 Kan. 798, 803, 556 P.2d 371 (1976).
The ultimate issue, therefore, becomes whether ‘the taking of the property has been completed at the time the force or threat is used by the defendant.’ Aldershof, 220 Kan. at 803.”
My research discloses only three cases from three other states containing similar facts. All three decide the issue contrary to the majority in this case.
As far back as 1932, Oklahoma considered this issue. In Kernell v. State, 53 Okla. Crim. 259, 10 P.2d 287 (1932), Kernell drove to a service station and had five gallons of gasoline put into his automobile’s gasoline tank. Kernell started to leave the station without paying for the gasoline. When the station attendant physically attempted to stop the car by jumping on the car, a passenger in the automobile pulled a pistol. A jury convicted Kernell of robbery. The Oklahoma Supreme Court reversed, stating:
*262“The obtaining of the gasoline having been without force, but with the consent of the owner, the state of facts shown could only constitute robbery in case the resistance offered by defendant and his companion was to retain possession of the property and not as a means of escape. The prosecuting witness was not attempting tp recover his property, but was demanding pay for it. The circumstances disclose that defendant and his companion were attempting to flee. Under no reasonable view of the evidence can it be said that defendant used force to retain possession of the property, but rather it discloses that such force as was used was in an effort to escape. We are constrained to hold that the crime charged has not been proved.” 53 Okla. Crim. 262-63.
In Williams v. State, 124 Ohio St. 585, 180 N.E. 58 (1932), Williams had the service station attendant put eight gallons of gasoline into his automobile. The attendant replaced the tank cap and walked to the front of the automobile. Williams attempted to drive away, and the attendant jumped on the running board at a point near the front seat. Passengers in the car pushed the attendant off the running board. A jury convicted Williams of robbery. The Ohio Supreme Court reversed, stating:
“This case is very easily distinguished from the case to which our attention has been called, involving a struggle between the owner of a jewelry store and a thief in the store, who had grabbed a tray of rings and was endeavoring to run out of the store With it, and the jeweler was endeavoring to get the tray away from the thief.
“In this case the delivery by the owner was voluntary and complete in every detail, even to replacing the cap of the gasoline tank. The station attendant was not trying to get the gasoline back by jumping upon the running board of the car, but was seeking to collect the charge of $1.28, which he might have exacted in advance, or at least by withholding the tank cap until payment was made or secured. Manifestly it was not practicable to retake the gasoline out of the tank of the car.
“Every essential of robbery is lacking in this case. The judgments of the trial and appellate courts must be reversed.” 124 Ohio St. 588.
In Flarity v. State, 499 So. 2d 18 (Fla. Dist. App. 1986), Flarity pumped gasoline into his car at a self-service station and did not pay for it. The station attendant attempted to stop Flarity from driving away by reaching inside the car and taking the keys. As Flarity accelerated the car, the attendant let go. A Florida court of appeals reversed the robbery conviction and held: “The taking of the gasoline occurred when the fuel reached the car. Because *263the violence occurred after the taking, the crime committed was petit larceny rather than robbery.” 499 So. 2d at 19.
Here, the taking was complete. The gasoline pumped into the automobile commingled with the other gasoline in the tank and was not recoverable. (A similar product, however, might be recoverable, assuming the gasoline already in the tank had no impurities and had the samp octane rating and additives.) After the gasoline was commingled, the defendant had complete control and dominion over it. The gasoline had been delivered. The attendant had replaced the gas cap and had rehung the hose used to put the gasoline into the automobile. All that remained was for the attendant to collect for the gasoline.
I would affirm the trial court, which would leave the State in a position to charge the defendant with misdemeanor theft and whatever degree of assault the State could prove.
Allegrucci, J., joins the foregoing dissent.