Court Opinion

ID: 9455239
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:15:57.736222+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:31.166075
License: Public Domain

HILL, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I am compelled to respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. As I understand the opinion, it holds, in effect, that the evidence on behalf of the prosecution did not sufficiently identify the car in the possession of appellant as the car described in the indictment and which was stolen from Fitzsimons Army Hospital grounds. A careful reading of the record convinces me that the conclusion reached by my distinguished associates is not supported by the record.
At the outset it was stipulated that the car described in the indictment belonged to one John Chester; that such car was a blue Rambler; that the identification number of the car, A85050A135695, as set out in the indictment, was the correct identification number on the Chester car; that the car was parked on the Fitzsimons Army Hospital grounds on April 12, 1968, and on that date was taken from such place without the permission of the owner.
The undisputed oral evidence shows that appellant, Turner, had possession of a 1968 Blue-green American Rambler car for several weeks subsequent to April 12, 1968; on Sunday, May 5, 1968, Turner, accompanied by two friends, George Askew and Elbert Maxey, drove in this car to Arlan’s Store on East Colfax in Aurora, a Denver suburb. While the trio was in the store Turner was taken into custody by a police officer for some offense not connected with the car; Turner, at that time instructed his companion Askew to drive the Rambler car to Askew’s home and to keep it there; Askew drove the car to his home at 2565 Glencoe in Denver; the car remained in the possession of Askew until May 20, 1968, when it was towed by direction of the Denver Police Department to the car pound maintained by the Department; on June 3, 1968, Neil W. Fore, an FBI Agent, went to the pound, examined the car that had been towed in from the Glencoe Street address and took what is known as a pencil lift of the vehicle identification number on the 1968 Blue Rambler American; and this lifted identification number was identical to the identification number on the 1968 Blue Rambler American, owned by Chester and taken from the Fitzsimons Hospital grounds on April 12, 1968.
In addition to proving the color, make and model, by a series of four witnesses the prosecution produced undisputed evidence that the serial number on the vehicle in appellant’s possession was identical to that of the stolen automobile. The majority states as much but evidently feels that the owner or other witnesses could proffer a more reliable identification, citing Welch v. United States, 360 F.2d 164 (10th Cir. 1966). As I read that case, serial number identification is an accepted means of identifying vehicles. “Such identification of an automobile by its true identification number, as was done here, is positive proof of its identity and no additional evidence is required. United States v. Wheeler, 219 F.2d 773 (7th Cir. 1955).” Meyer v. United States, 396 F.2d 279, 281 (8th Cir. 1968). Considering all the evidence, there is more than a mere suspicion of guilt; rather it appears that the stolen car was unequivocally traced to Turner.
The evidence adduced, as a matter of law, compelled the trial judge to overrule the motion for a judgment of acquittal and to submit the case to the jury. The jury, in accordance with the instructions, determined the facts and returned a verdict of guilty. I would affirm the case.