Court Opinion

ID: 9454047
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:33:57.351374+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:56.602599
License: Public Domain

TAMM, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I disagree with the action of the majority in reversing the conviction of this appellant for the crime of robbery. The majority opinion bases its conclusion upon the statement that “[a] defendant is not guilty of robbery unless he has a specific intent to take the property of another.” (Emphasis supplied.) The majority opinion completely turns its back upon the facts of record in this case in that the jury unanimously found that this appellant did, as proved beyond a reasonable doubt, have a specific intent to take the property of the complaining witness. The majority opinion leans upon the declination of the trial judge to include in his charge to the jury defense counsel’s request for a specific instruction relating to the right of a person to take property which he believed he had a right to take. A reading of the complete charge to the jury establishes that the substance of the defense counsel’s request in this regard was repeatedly covered. Indicative of the majority’s *577complete disregard of the jury finding, I set out hereafter at some length excerpts from the learned and knowledgeable trial judge’s charge to the jury upon the subject of the need for evidence of specific intent in order to establish an essential ground to convict for the crime of robbery.
After meticulously outlining to the jury various aspects of the law relating to the facts necessary to convict, the trial judge set forth the five elements necessary to constitute the crime of robbery (Tr. 307). The fifth element enumerated by the trial judge was “that the defendant took such property and carried it away without right to do so, and with specific intent to steal it.” (Emphasis supplied.) Thereafter the five elements were the subject of detailed and enlarged instruction to the jury, the judge emphasizing throughout that the possession must have been acquired by force or violence or by “putting the complaining witness in fear. * * *” (Tr. 308). In letter perfect phraseology when he returned to the fifth essential element of the crime of robbery, the trial judge reiterated: “To establish the fifth essential element of the offense, it is necessary that the property was so taken and carried away by the defendant, without right to do so, and with specific intent to steal it. There can be no robbery where the property is taken for a lawful purpose. At the time of taking and carrying the property away, the defendant must have had the specific intent to deprive the complaining witness of his property and to convert and appropriate it to the use and benefit of the taker.” (Emphasis supplied) (Tr. 309).
Although it would appear most logical that the elements of specific intent had been adequately covered by the above instructions, from an abundance of precaution in the light of appellant’s version of the robbery, the trial judge again in commenting on the fifth essential element of the offense of robbery stated “it is necessary that the property was so taken and carried away by the defendant, without right to do so, and with specific intent to steal it." (Emphasis supplied) (Tr. 31.5). Thereafter the court in detail instructed the jury as to the manner and means of proving intent (Tr. 316).
Acting upon these and other instructions the jury by its unanimous vote found this appellant guilty of the crime of robbery. It is inescapable from the verdict that they found that this appellant by force and violence and by putting in fear took from the complaining witness property of value, without any right to do so and with specific intent to steal it. I confess a complete inability to understand how the majority can rationalize a reversal of this conviction upon the ground that the appellant did not have a “specific intent to take the property of another.” To reach this conclusion the majority must, and I regret to add, arbitrarily and capriciously, ignore completely the specific and affirmative finding of the jury on this point. The purpose of the criminal courts is fundamentally to protect organized society from the ravages of criminal conduct. It seems to me that action of the kind embodied in the majority opinion constitutes a complete perversion of that purpose and reduces the trial to an exercise solely for the exoneration of a guilty defendant, in which the welfare of society is completely ignored. It is unfortunate for the law abiding community that judicial visionaries must apply their well intended theories to obviously gujlty felons.
I would affirm the conviction.