Huff v. State, 45930
| Decision Date | 04 April 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 45930,45930 |
| Parties | Barry Lawrence HUFF, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Ken L. Sanders, Houston, for appellant.
Carol S. Vance, Dist. Atty., Phyllis Bell and Henry Oncken, Asst. Dist. Attys., Houston, Jim D. Vollers, State's Atty., and Robert A. Huttash, Asst. State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
This is an appeal from a conviction for the offense of theft of property over the value of $50.00. The punishment was assessed at ten years.
Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence.
The record reflects that Pearl Joffrion's 1962 Catalina Pontiac was parked in front of her residence in Houston the evening of December 12, 1970, and that it was missing on the morning of December 13, 1970. Officer Joseph A. Albitre of the California highway patrol testified that on February 7, 1971, he stopped appellant in Bakersfield, California for a minor traffic violation. After appellant was unable to comply with a request to demonstrate a valid driver's license or car registration, Officer Albitre had the dispatcher run a stolen car check on the car appellant was driving. Within a few seconds a report was received that the car was on the stolen vehicle list from Texas. The vehicle identification number and license plate number of the vehicle were those of Mrs. Joffrion's vehicle.
Appellant called Olivia T. Calhoun who testified that she was with appellant at the time of his arrest in California and that prior to going to California they had spent the period of December 10 through December 14 in Pampa, visiting her relatives and friends. According to Miss Calhoun, they purchased the car in Los Angeles from one Charles Bell shortly after their arrival in California. She further testified that she had given appellant the cash to pay for the automobile and that in the process of moving she had misplaced the receipt given her.
On redirect examination, Officer Albitre testified that the appellant had told him at the time of the arrest that he had purchased the automobile, paying $100 down and owing $75.
The unexplained possession of recently stolen property is sufficient to support a conviction for theft of such property. English v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 441 S.W.2d 195.
To warrant an inference or presumption of guilt from the circumstance alone of possession, such possession must be personal and must be unexplained. 5 Branch's Ann.P.C.2d, Section 2650,...
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