Court Opinion

ID: 9861801
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 00:35:30.085023+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:29:06.688323
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion
Givan, C.J.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion in this case.
In addition to the evidence stated by the majority concerning Appellant Young’s participation in the alleged crime, the record shows that Young, Appellant Pauline Ruhl and one Mae Soil had spent the previous night in the Holiday Inn in Michigan City, Indiana, in rooms registered to a Jancy J. Davis. The parties subsequently left the motel without paying for the use of the rooms, and it was this activity that first called the defendants to the attention of the police authorities. It was in making the arrest upon this complaint that the theft of the goods now in question was discovered.
Further, Young’s activity at the police station was such that the jury could reasonably infer that he was attempting to hide the property then located in the automobile. Upon arrival at the police station, Young locked the automobile, and upon request of the officers, refused to open the car to allow examination of the contents, which were visible on the back seat of the car. The officers were forced to obtain a search warrant in order to examine the merchandise. This attempt on Young’s part to thwart the officers in their examination of the stolen property was evidence from which the jury could further conclude that Young had guilty knowledge of the contents of the box on the back seat of the car.
There is thus ample evidence in the record upon which the jury could logically conclude that the Appellant Young, the Appellant Pauline A. Ruhl, and Mae Soil, were all acting in concert in the planned activity of shoplifting.
*19The opinion of the Court of Appeals in affirming the conviction of Young is correct. The petition to transfer should be denied.
Hunter, J., concurs.
Note. — Reported at 332 N.E.2d 103.