Court Opinion

ID: 9690529
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 19:21:44.671059+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:59.155125
License: Public Domain

DON BURGESS, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I respectfully disagree with the majority’s decision to discount the precedent set by the Court of Criminal Appeals in Freeman v. State, 707 S.W.2d 597, 603 (Tex.Crim.App.1986). In Freeman, the Court of Criminal Appeals found that where the accused does not assert a possessory interest in property allegedly stolen, but the State proves that another had a possessory interest in the property, then, as a matter of law, between the two, the latter has established that he had the greater right to possession of the property, and in turn the State has established a prima facie case of ownership. Id. at 605.
In the present case, Long did not claim to have a possessory interest in the property. However, the State failed to establish that McClain had a greater right to possession of the timber than did Long. The evidence was that McClain is a self-employed attorney and is the general manager of Foster, the company that owned the stolen timber. McClain wrote checks for' Foster and demanded payment from Long for the stolen timber. There is no evidence in the record indicating that McClain had any type of actual care, custody, control, or management over the stolen timber.1 Although the State established that he is the general manager of the Foster Estate, that evidence alone is insufficient to sustain an ownership allegation absent some showing that McClain exer*324eised some degree of care, custody, control, or management over the stolen property. See Freeman, 707 S.W.2d at 603. After viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, I believe a rational trier of fact could not have found McClain was the owner or special owner of the property. Accordingly, I would reverse the judgment of the trial court and order an acquittal. See Greene v. Massey, 437 U.S. 19, 98 S.Ct. 2151, 57 L.Ed.2d 15 (1978); Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 98 S.Ct. 2141, 57 L.Ed.2d 1 (1978).
I concur with the majority’s disposition of Long’s second point of error. The majority finds it was within the trial court’s discretion to include the cost of regeneration, $19,488, in the total amount of restitution. In doing so, the majority takes the position the trial court has unlimited discretion in ordering restitution. This is incorrect. There must be a factual basis in the record for the amount recommended. See Campbell v. State, 5 S.W.3d 693, 696-97 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). The record reflects that Mike McNamara testified it would cost Foster Estate $19,488 to replant the 56 acres Long clear-cut. According to McNamara, Foster ordinarily uses a selective management method, only cutting so many trees per acre, so that replanting is not required. Because there was evidence that the costs of regeneration would not have arisen in the normal course of Foster’s operations, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in including that amount in the restitution ordered. For that reason, I would overrule Long’s second point of error.

. McClain testified at trial that he was manager of Foster. However, he did not state whether he possessed any type of ownership interest in the timber or as to whether he had any degree of care, custody, management or control whatsoever over the limber.