Court Opinion

ID: 9661140
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:30:11.093331+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:25.653130
License: Public Domain

DALLY, Commissioner.
OPINION ON APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
The appellant’s motion for leave to file a motion for rehearing reasserts his contention that the indictment is fundamentally defective and the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction. We were and we are content with our original disposition of *840the appellant’s complaint concerning the indictment, but the motion for leave was granted to reconsider our holding that the evidence is sufficient to sustain the conviction. After reconsideration we remain convinced that the evidence is sufficient to sustain the jury’s verdict and the appellant’s conviction for the offense of burglary-
Stolen property taken in the burglary was found in the Cadillac automobile parked at the home of Wilburn Petty in Marshall. Circumstantial evidence indicated that the automobile had been used in the commission of the burglary. Petty had known the appellant all of his life, but Petty had only known Gary Jones, the appellant’s cousin, for about one year. Petty was interrogated and testified:
“He [appellant] lived at 305 South Drive? That’s before I lived there. All right. Lonnie Edwards lived at 305 South Drive? No, sir, he was living in Harleton. Did he ever live there, 305 South Drive, did he ever live with you? Now, he’s been down there and spent the night with me. All right. Now, do you remember the day that the police officers came out to your house in January? I don’t remember the date, but I remember, I know when they come out there. Do you remember the day that there was a white Cadillac parked in your driveway? Yes, sir. And what did that Cadillac have in the trunk of it? It had a stove and a dishwasher, they said. O.K. And who brought that up there to your house? Now, I wasn’t there when they first come up there. I couldn’t explain it. I don’t know just who, which one was driving or nothing. Well how many people came up there with it? Well, when I got back to the house there was two there. And who were those two? Lonnie and, oh, I forget his name. I can’t call his name good. It’s — Gary Jones. Gary Jones, yes, sir. And did they talk to you, Lonnie and Gary? Yes, sir. And did they want to sell you anything? Well, sir, now, Gary tried to sell me that dishwasher and the stove. All right. And how much did he want for them? A hundred and twenty-five dollars is what they told me. Did you look at it to see whether it was old or new? Yes, sir. Well, I went out there and looked and it was new. It was new. Yes. Now, that night before, Lonnie Edwards hadn’t stayed there with you that night, had he? No, sir. And that day he came up there with Gary Jones? Yes, sir. Now, who owned that white Cadillac? Well, Mr. Coleman said that he had sold it to Gary Jones. O.K. Was a hundred and twenty-five dollars a pretty good price for that? I imagine. Ain’t no telling what it would have cost; ain’t no telling. If you could have had it for a hundred and twenty-five, you’d have made a good deal. Yeah, but I didn’t want it. When was it you didn’t want it, Mr. Petty, when they brought it out there or when the law came out there? I don’t want it no time. I knew it was something up or either — What suggested to you that something was up? Because it was all new stuff and it was too cheap for being, it was too cheap for being as good stuff as it was. And was Lonnie Edwards there when you and Gary were talking about the price? No, sir, I think he had went uptown somewhere. Now, I won’t be for sure, but he wasn’t there at the house. He wasn’t there at the house? How did he go uptown? I don’t know, sir, but — Aren’t you sure that he was there at the house? * * * No, sir, he wasn’t there at the house at that time, when he offered to sell it to me for that price. Was he there when the police got there? Yes, sir.”
Although there are conflicting statements in Petty’s testimony, and it is not clear and cogent testimony, it is the duty of the jury if it can, to resolve the conflicts and believe that portion of his testimony which they deem believable. From this testimony the jury could have believed that the appellant was claiming an interest in and attempting to sell the stolen property to Petty. Taking *841that part of Petty’s testimony and inferences which may be drawn from that testimony which support the jury’s verdict, combined with evidence of finding the appellant’s billfold in one of the houses burglarized, we hold the evidence is sufficient to support the jury’s verdict and the appellant’s conviction for the offense of burglary-
Appellant’s motion for rehearing is overruled and the judgment is affirmed.
ROBERTS, J., dissents.
Opinion approved by the Court.