Davis v. State, CR
| Citation | 255 Ark. 405,500 S.W.2d 775 |
| Decision Date | 05 November 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. CR,CR |
| Parties | Gloria DAVIS et al., Appellants, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 73--115. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Arkansas |
Billy Satterfield, Little Rock, for appellants.
Jim Guy Tucker, Atty. Gen., by O. H. Hargraves, Deputy Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
Appellants, Gloria Davis, Clifton Phillips, and Robert Earl Young, were convicted by the Pulaski County Circuit Court, sitting as a jury, of possessing stolen property with the intent to deprive the true owners thereof, knowing that the property was stolen. Appellants were sentenced to five years imprisonment each, with four years of such sentences suspended. From the judgment so entered, appellants bring this appeal. For reversal, it is first urged that the court erred in overruling appellants' motion to suppress State's Exhibits 1, 2, and 3, and second, it is argued that the evidence was not sufficient to support the conviction. We proceed to a discussion of each point.
Exhibit 1 is a Palm Beach men's suit owned by Dillard Department Stores, which operates Pfeifer-Blass Companies in Arkansas; Exhibit 2 is a ladies' suit owned by Dillard, and Exhibit 3 is a men's navy blue leather jacket owned by David's of Arkansas. Officer Johnny Maack of the Little Rock Police Department made the arrest of the appellants while they were travelling in their automobile, and discovered the aforementioned property in the car; he testified that he turned the property over to Detective Lieutenant George M. Knestrict. Detective Knestrict testified that he stored this property in the Service Division in care of Officer Crump, signing signature cards at the time. He checked the items out from Crump when a hearing was held in municipal court and then checked them back in. He testified that he checked them out again from Officer Crump on the day of the trial, all three being wired together with a tag, and the records reflecting that they had been kept in Crump's custody; in the courtroom, he gave Exhibit 3 to Mr. Overman, employed by David's of Arkansas, who identified the coat from the witness stand. The officer stated that he turned the other two items over to Thomas Dupriest in the courtroom, this man being employed by Dillard. Dupriest identified both the men's and ladies' suits as property of Dillard. It is appellants' contention that turning the property over to the named individuals before it was identified and introduced into evidence represented a break in the chain of evidence, it being asserted that these individuals were not proper custodians. We do not agree that there is merit in this argument. Both store employees testified that they had received the exhibits from Detective Knestrict in the courtroom that same day and they positively identified them as the properties which had been taken. We find no break in the chain; to the contrary, the possession of the items, and the transmission from one person to another is clearly shown. To paraphrase what we said in Fight v. State, 254 Ark. 927, 928, 497 S.W.2d 262, there is no word of testimony that these items were different from the articles that were taken from the store, and the court did not err in permitting their introduction.
As to the second point, it is first asserted that the State failed to prove that the items were in fact stolen, or that appellants knew they were stolen. We disagree. The testimony by Mr. Dupriest and Mr. Overman details that these items were not sold and were missing from the store; it was pointed out by Dupriest that the stubs on the men's suit were still in place when the suit was recovered. The ladies' suit was identified by a different type stub made in the Little Rock warehouse which requires a special tool to insert. Mr. Overman testified that he observed the leather jacket in the store at David's about an hour and a half before two of the appellants entered the store; that it was a size 42, and the only one of that size in the store, and he identified it as belonging to that concern. Gary Griffin, an employee of the Dillard store, testified that two of the appellants, Gloria Davis and Clifton Phillips, were occupants of a red Chevrolet Impala with light stripes down the sides, and they...
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Gatewood v. State, CR
...State, 204 Ga. 762, 51 S.E.2d 851. As to the effect of joint possession, cf. Lee v. State, 200 Ark. 964, 141 S.W.2d 842; Davis v. State, 255 Ark. 405, 500 S.W.2d 775; Cox v. State, 254 Ark. 1, 491 S.W.2d 802, cert. den. 414 U.S. 923, 94 S.Ct. 230, 38 L.Ed.2d 157. It is at least evidence tha......