Ellett v. State, 50837
| Decision Date | 22 November 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 50837,50837 |
| Citation | 364 So.2d 669 |
| Parties | Colie ELLETT v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
J. W. Kellum, Sumner, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Carolyn B. Mills, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before PATTERSON, C. J., SUGG and BOWLING, JJ., and MAPLES, Commissioner.
DARWIN M. MAPLES, Commissioner for the Court: 1
Appellant was convicted on March 14, 1977 by a jury in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial District of Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, of receiving stolen property. She was sentenced to five years in the State Penitentiary with three years suspended pending good behavior. Appellant has assigned as error the trial court's refusal to grant peremptory instructions at the close of the State's evidence and at the close of all the evidence. We reverse.
On March 13, 1976, Sunflower County authorities had traced a stolen cotton trailer to an auction being held in Inverness, Mississippi. Upon inquiry of the auction promoters it was found that the trailer had been delivered by a group of people who also delivered several other items to be sold at the auction. This group, consisting of the defendant, her daughter and several of her grandchildren, were placed under surveillance and were arrested when they attempted to leave the auction site after appearing to have grown "nervous". It was subsequently discovered that the items a grease gun, a grader blade and a hydraulic cylinder belonged to residents of Tallahatchie County, and defendant was indicted, tried and convicted in that county for the receipt of this stolen property. The cotton trailer was not included.
Other evidence for the State consisted of the identification of the items by their owners, none of whom could pinpoint the date when the items were stolen. The Sheriff of Tallahatchie County testified that defendant stated to him, after being advised of her rights, that the items came from a building owned by her which she was dismantling in Webb, Mississippi. This statement was also given to the arresting officer, Sheriff Jack Sessums of Sunflower County. Sheriff Sessums was used for the introduction of a piece of paper purportedly written by the appellant directing the auction authorities to send the proceeds from the sales to an address in Webb, Mississippi. Although the sheriff was not the proper party to introduce this evidence, no objection was made at the trial and no assignment was made to this Court, and the matter is therefore not before us. This, in essence, was the entire case presented by the State during trial.
Guilty knowledge is the gist of the offense of receiving stolen property, made a crime by Mississippi Code Annotated, Section 97-17-69 (1972). By this it is not meant that the defendant should have personally witnessed the theft, but that she received the property under circumstances that would lead a...
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