Dixon v. State, 45923
| Citation | 240 So.2d 289 |
| Decision Date | 19 October 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 45923,45923 |
| Parties | Selby DIXON v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi |
Edmund J. Phillips, Jr., Newton, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by Guy N. Rogers, Asst. Atty. Gen., and John M. Kinard, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Conviction of Burglary: eighteen months.
The Conehatta Repair Shop, located at Conehatta, Newton County, Mississippi, a combination grocery and repair shop, had been plagued by burglaries. As a consequence, Billy Haralson, owner, slept inside the store in an attempt to catch the burglar. Mr. Haralson apprehended the defendant late at night inside the repair shop after the defendant had broken and entered a window at the rear of the building.
Defendant's sister had driven him to Decatur to visit his brother who was in jail. He then went to Conehatta to try to find someone to get his brother out of jail. Between 11 p.m. and 12 p.m. defendant unsuccessfully sought a ride home or a place to sleep. Shortly thereafter he was caught inside the Conehatta Repair Shop. Defendant testified that he was dressed in light clothing and the weather was very cold. He stated that he saw a heater burning inside the Conehatta Repair Shop and that he entered the building to get warm.
The principal contention is that the State failed to prove the necessary felonious intent to commit larceny as charged in the indictment and required by Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated, Section 2043 (1956). The Mississippi rule was set out in Nichols v. State, 207 Miss. 291, 42 So.2d 201 (1949) and Thames v. State, 221 Miss. 57o, 73 So.2d 134 (1954). These cases followed State v. Worthen, 111 Iowa 267, 82 N.W. 910 (1900), which stated:
Some presumptions are to be indulged in against one who enters a building unbidden, at a late hour of night, else the burglar caught without boot might escape the penalties of the law. * * * People are not accustomed, in the nighttime, to enter homes of others, when asleep, with innocent purposes. The usual object is theft, and this is the inference ordinarily to be drawn in the absence of explanation from breaking and entering at night, accompanied by flight when discovered, even though nothing has been taken. (111 Iowa at 269, 82 N.W. at 911).
The recent case of Newburn v. State, 205 So.2d 260 (Miss.1967), stated:
The State seldom has direct and positive testimony expressly showing the specific intent of an intruder at the time he...
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...49 (1972); People v. King, 2 Ill.App.3d 870, 275 N.E.2d 918 (1971); Garcia v. People, 172 Colo. 329, 473 P.2d 169 (1970); Dixon v. State, 240 So.2d 289 (Miss.1970); State v. Wills, 107 N.H. 107, 218 A.2d 47 (1966); People v. Johnson, 28 Ill.2d 441, 192 N.E.2d 864 (1963); Behel v. State, 40 ......
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...and entering. Moseley v. State, 92 Miss. 250, 45 So. 833 (1908); Nichols v. State, 207 Miss. 291, 42 So.2d 201 (1949); Dixon v. State, 240 So.2d 289 (Miss.1970). But Gillum asserts that it is unconstitutional for intent to steal to be presumed from proof of breaking and entering because the......
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White v. State, 2013–KA–02132–COA.
...and circumstances surrounding him at the time. [A d]efendant's intention is manifested largely by the things he does.Dixon v. State, 240 So.2d 289, 290 (Miss.1970). Consequently, circumstantial evidence is adequate to prove that a defendant had felonious intent when he broke and entered a d......
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