Court Opinion

ID: 9587927
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:28:06.936949+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:09.629489
License: Public Domain

Pannell, Judge,
concurring specially.
I agree that the charge referred to in Division 1 of the opinion was erroneous, but not for the reasons given in the opinion to the effect that the rule of recent possession of stolen property has no application to a case where one is charged with receiving stolen goods.
I agree that confusion exists, not only as to whether the rule of recent possession of stolen property applies to a case where one is charged with receiving stolen goods, but also as to just what the rule is, and what may constitute a correct charge to the jury under it. In my -opinion, the charge given was not a proper charge to a jury.
It is my opinion that the rule of recent possession of stolen *596property is applicable in a case where one is charged with receiving stolen goods. I must agree with the majority that the cases cited in Williams v. State, 16 Ga. App. 697 (6), supra, are all larceny cases, but in my opinion, this is a distinction without a difference. The Williams case has been followed by this court in Arkwright v. State, 57 Ga. App. 221 (1), supra; Nichols v. State, 111 Ga. App. 699, 701, supra. The Arkwright case was followed in Holsey v. State, 113 Ga. App. 553 (149 SE2d 152). The majority rely upon the case of Bird v. State, 72 Ga. App. 843 (4), supra, which has been followed in Austin v. State, 89 Ga. App. 866, 868, supra; Washington v. State, 96 Ga. App. 844, 845, supra; Brooks v. State, 98 Ga. App. 13, 14 (104 SE2d 620); Clarke v. State, 103 Ga. App. 739 (3), supra. However, the Bird case cites as authority no case which in any way sustains the ruling made. The cases cited are Suggs v. State, 59 Ga. App. 394 (1 SE2d 39); Arkwright v. State, 57 Ga. App. 221, supra; Ford v. State, 162 Ga. 422 (134 SE 95). The Suggs case is authority only for the ruling that it must be shown the goods are stolen in order to sustain a conviction. The Ford case is authority only for the elements necessary to be proven by the State in order to sustain a conviction. The Arkwright case (written by the same judge who wrote the Bird case) quotes from and follows Williams v. State, 16 Ga. App. 697 (6), supra, and rules exactly opposite to the ruling which it is cited to sustain. Not only is the ruling in the fourth division of the Bird case not sustained by the authority cited, but in Division 6 of the same opinion, in making its conclusionary ruling, the court cites the Williams case. This definitely indicates, without doubt, that confusion exists in the matter, but I see no reason to disagree with the ruling in the Williams case, which is, if the rule of recent possession of stolen property is applicable to convict the principal thief of larceny or burglary, it should also be applicable to one charged with receiving the stolen goods knowing them to have been stolen. This seems to be the rule in the majority of jurisdictions in this country. See 76 CJS 33, 34, Receiving Stolen Goods, § 17b. For these reasons, I think the Williams case states the better rule rather than the Bird case.
Even so, I must concur in the judgment of reversal for the *597reason that the charge given, in effect, directs a verdict of guilty in the absence of an explanation of how the defendant secured possession of the stolen goods. While the charge given is almost an exact quote from an opinion by the Supreme Court in Daniel v. State, 65 Ga. 199, 200, supra, that does not necessarily mean that it is proper to charge the jury in the language of the opinion. Where one is found in the recent possession of the stolen property and such possession is not satisfactorily explained, this is but a circumstance sufficient to authorize a jury to find that the accused is guilty as charged, but it does not create a presumption of law against the accused, and does not of itself necessarily prove his guilt. To charge that this circumstance creates a presumption that one so found in possession of stolen property is guilty of receiving the same knowing it to be stolen, “and is of itself proof of guilt, is to compel the jury to do that which they are merely permitted by law to do.” Gravitt v. State, 114 Ga. 841 (40 SE 1003, 88 ASR 63). “The law raises no presumption; it simply permits the jury to infer guilt from the fact of recent possession unaccounted for.” Lewis v. State, 120 Ga. 508 (48 SE 227). In the present case, there was no language in the charge to the jury indicating merely that they were authorized to convict under the circumstances (see in this connection Tucker v. State, 57 Ga. 503, 505). See Parker v. State, 34 Ga. 262 (3) wherein it was held: “The judge ought not, in any case, to say to the jury ‘the defendant is guilty and you ought to find him so,’ even though it be not stated absolutely, but conditionally upon the existence of certain facts, and the finding of those facts be referred exclusively to the jury.” As was said by Justice Bleckley in Hill v. State, 63 Ga. 578, 583: “There is a wide difference between resting the result of a trial upon facts which legally constitute the offense charged, and making it turn upon other facts which are merely evidence of the constituent facts.” The charge here should have been so worded as to state to the jury that proof of recent possession of stolen property, in the absence of any satisfactory explanation of such possession, would authorize a finding that the defendant had guilty knowledge at the time he received the goods and thus authorize a conviction for the offense charged. See in this
*598connection Brown v. State, 74 Ga. App. 98 (3) (38 SE2d 871); Hawkins v. State, 80 Ga. App. 496 (1) (56 SE2d 315) and the corresponding division of the opinion.
For the reasons given, I concur in the judgment of reversal.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Bell and Judge Eberhardt concur with the views herein expressed.