McKnight v. State
| Decision Date | 02 March 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 39270,39270 |
| Citation | 399 S.W.2d 552 |
| Parties | Hershel McKNIGHT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Royce E. Ball, Lubbock, for appellant.
Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
The offense is felony theft; the punishment, two years in the penitentiary.
Bill Riley, the complaining witness, testified that a $950 motor, used for irrigation purposes, was taken without his permission from his farm one night. This motor was found in a building allegedly rented by appellant, and it is this possession of recently stolen property, added to the testimony of an accomplice witness, which the state contends sustains appellant's conviction.
James Firestone testified that he met appellant in the spring of 1962 while the latter was operating a small garage for servicing automobiles. After several discussions, the two agreed to open a larger garage specializing in automatic transmission repair and operating under the name of Mac's Automatic Transmission Service. Firestone, not a mechanic, furnished most of the tools and equipment and leased the building, while appellant provided the 'know-how', and the profits were divided equally. On the evening of September 13, 1962, according to Firestone, he and appellant stole three irrigation motors from farms in the surrounding area, including one from the irrigation well of Mr. Riley, and took these motors to Mac's Automatic Transmission Service. The next day the motors were stripped of accessories and then stored in a small building near the transmission shop. This building, according to Firestone, was owned by J. A. Mullins and rented by appellant. The witness stated that he fled to California when he saw officers investigating the theft near their business establishment, but that he had been arrested there and returned to Texas.
Firestone's credibility was impeached by other evidence showing part of his testimony to be untrue, and by his admission that he had been previously convicted of burglaries. It was also shown that while he was in jail after being returned from California he had sent letters to appellant demanding money, and he did not deny that these letters contained threats that appellant would be implicated in the theft if he did not satisfy Firestone's demand.
Appellant testified that the small building in which he had operated his garage was owned by J. A. Mullins, and that after Firestone and appellant opened the larger shop, he no longer rented the small building, but that Firestone made some arrangement with Mullins to use it for storage. While the record is not clear on this point, this is presumably the same small building in which the stolen motors were found.
Appellant further testified that Firestone represented himself to be a farmer and that he financed their business, leased the building, and furnished all the equipment with the exception of appellant's personal tools, and that the pair split the profits equally. His previous business had been called Mac's Garage, and they agreed to leave his name in the firm name because of the good will he had acquired in the automotive repair business. On September 14, after they had been in business only a few months, appellant noticed three motors in the garage, and in response to his inquiry, Firestone explained that two of these came off his farm where he had used them for irrigation, and that he had purchased the other from a neighbor. He said he planned to strip them of their accessories and sell them. Appellant testified that he had little to do with the running of the business, and that after Firestone fled to California, Mrs. Firestone attended to the administrative part of the business and eventually replaced appellant with another man. He stated that Firestone had sent him two letters which stated that if apellant did not get him $1,000, Firestone would implicate appellant in the theft. Appellant turned these letters over to an attorney, who returned them to the jailer. It was shown that appellant had been twice convicted of theft and was also convicted of aggravated assault, and that all three convictions occurred between 1958 and 1960.
The jailer verified the fact that appellant's attorney gave him the two letters but stated that he no longer had them and that they were not available for appellant's trial.
Mechanics who worked at the garage verified appellant's contention that Firestone was the actual 'boss' of the business, doing all the hiring, firing, paying, and bookkeeping; that appellant was the service manager; and that there was also a shop foreman who participated in the operation of the shop.
Kenneth Copeland testified that he had made arrangements to purchase one of the motors during the week after they were stolen, and that he had made a down payment on it. The witness stated that he did not know that the motor was stolen, and that Firestone told him that the motor came off Firestone's farm. Copeland said he...
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Cameron v. Hauck, 23844.
...to the owner." The same considerations are crucial to deciding whether there has been a "taking" under 1410. E. g., McKnight v. State, 1966, Tex.Cr.App., 399 S.W.2d 552; Johnson v. State, 1958, 165 Tex.Cr. 468, 308 S.W.2d 869; Barnes v. State, 1942, 145 Tex.Cr. 131, 166 S.W.2d 708; Kiser v.......
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Morales v. State, No. 08-06-00067-CR (Tex. App. 1/30/2009)
...be personal, recent, unexplained, and must involve a distinct and conscious assertion of property by defendant. McKnight v. State, 399 S.W.2d 552, 555 (Tex.Crim.App. 1996). The State argues that Appellant's possession of the items was recent. Appellant was in possession of items that requir......
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Gill v. State
...the conclusion is essentially factbound. See, e.g., Williams v. State, 104 Tex.Cr.R. 58, 282 S.W. 230 (1926); see also McKnight v. State, 399 S.W.2d 552 (Tex.Cr.App.1966). Lucas v. State, 482 S.W.2d 236 (Tex.Cr.App.1972), involved an "inside job" of theft of certain property in a Fort Worth......
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Sutherlin v. State
...stolen property, the defendant must be shown to have been in possession thereof recently after the actual theft. See McKnight v. State, 399 S.W.2d 552, 555 (Tex.Cr.App.1966); 5 Branch's Ann. P.C., 2d Ed. Sections 2650 and 2651. However, mere possession of stolen property does not give rise ......