Com. v. Smith

• Decision Date: 11 June 1975
• Citation: 368 Mass. 126,330 N.E.2d 197
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Marcus F. SMITH.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 197

330 N.E.2d 197

368 Mass. 126

COMMONWEALTH

v. Marcus F. SMITH.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Middlesex.

Argued May 5, 1975.

Decided June 11, 1975.

Albert F. Cioffi, Everett, for defendant.

Terence M. Troyer, Asst. Dist. Atty., for the Commonwealth.

Before TAURO, C.J., and REARDON, QUIRICO, KAPLAN and WILKINS, JJ.

WILKINS, Justice.

The defendant argues his exception to the denial of his motion for a directed verdict in a jury waived trial in which he was found guilty of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident without making himself known. See G.L. c. 90, § 24(2)(a). We treat the motion for a directed verdict as a request for a ruling that the evidence did not warrant a finding of guilt. See Commonwealth v. Hughes, --- Mass. ---, ---, n. 2, ^a 305 N.E.2d 117 (1973).

The evidence showed that the arresting officer received the registration number of a vehicle which had struck two other vehicles and continued on without stopping. There was testimony that only one person occupied the vehicle which did not stop. The officer went to the defendant's home. Then he went to the home of the defendant's sister, where he spoke to the defendant. A vehicle parked outside the sister's home had a warm radiator and was damaged, having on it red paint which appeared to be the same color as one of the vehicles wich had been struck. Analysis showed that the red paint scrapings from this car were consistent in color and microscopic appearance with the paint of one of the other vehicles damaged in the accident.

The defendant told the police officer that he was visiting his sister and had not been out for seven hours prior to the time of the accident. The accident occurred at 12:50 A.M. At 1:03 A.M. the defendant reported to the local police that his vehicle had been stolen. A citation was delivered to the defendant at 2:15 A.M. The citation stated that the offense occurred at 2:15 A.M., and listed one Owen Smith as the owner of the vehicle. ¹

The defendant argues that the judge was not warranted in inferring that the defendant had been operating the vehicle at the time of the accident. Although there was ample evidence to justify the conclusion tht the damaged vehicle found outside the home of the defendant's sister had been involved in the accident, there was no direct evidence that the defendant was the driver of the accident vehicle. Circumstantial evidence may be sufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in cases of this sort. See Commonwealth v. Henry, 338 Mass. 786, 153 N.E.2d 751 (1958); Commonwealth v. Swartz, 343 Mass. 709, 711--713, 180 N.E.2d 685 (1962); Commonwealth v. Rand, --- Mass. ---, --- - ---, ^b 296 N.E.2d 200 (1973). In some other such cases, however, circumstantial evidence does not produce a moral certainty of guilt and exclude any other reasonable hypothesis. See Commonwealth v. Shea, 324 Mass. 710, 713--714, 88 N.E.2d 645 (1949); Commonwealth v. Mullen, --- Mass.App. ---, --- - ---, ^c 322 N.E.2d 195 (1975).

We believe that the evidence warranted a finding that the defendant was the operator of the vehicle which left the scene of the accident. The evidence justified a fining that the vehicle had been under the defendant's sole control for several hours prior to the accident. There was only one person in that vehicle at the time of the accident. The vehicle was parked near the house where the defendant was found slightly more than one hour after the accident. The judge did not have to believe the defendant's statement that he had not been out for seven hours prior to the time of the accident or that the vehicle had been stolen. If the vehicle had not been stolen, the defendant's false report of the alleged theft within fifteen minutes of the accident permitted an inference of his consciousness of guilt. Commonwealth v. Torrealba, 316 Mass. 24, 30, 54 N.E.2d 939 (1944). Commonwealth v. Eppich, 342 Mass. 487, 492, 174 N.E.2d 31 (1961). This inference, while not...