Medina v. People
| Decision Date | 24 February 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 22801,22801 |
| Parties | Arthur Raymond MEDINA, Plaintiff in Error, v. The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Raymond Duitch, Colorado Springs, for plaintiff in error.
Duke W. Dunbar, Atty. Gen., John P. Moore, Deputy Atty. Gen., Paul D. Rubner, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.
Medina was convicted by a jury of the crimes of burglary second degree and larceny of personal property of a value in excess of $50 and thereafter he was sentenced to a separate term in the State Penitentiary for each of these two crimes, the sentences, however, to run concurrently. By this writ of error, as we understand it, Medina seeks only a reversal of the larceny conviction, inasmuch as counsel in his written brief and again in oral argument has conceded, for all practical purposes at least, that the record does support the burglary conviction.
Although it is a bit hard to tell, it would appear that the chief reason advanced here in behalf of Medina as to why the larceny conviction should be reversed is that the evidence is legally insufficient to support such conviction. More specifically, it is argued that there is no evidence that Medina himself stole anything or that he was acting as an accessory to others who did commit the theft. At the most, says counsel, the evidence only shows that Medina was guilty of being an accessory during the fact and that there is simply no evidence that he was standing by And aiding, abetting or assisting the others who committed the actual theft. Our analysis of the evidence leads us to conclude, however, that there is ample evidence to support the larceny conviction, not to mention the burglary conviction. Some reference to the evidence adduced upon trial becomes necessary.
It is conceded that an office building located on a used car lot in Colorado Springs was burglarized in the early morning of August 3, 1966. Entry into the building was gained by breaking a glass window. Also, the evidence clearly disclosed that the burglars, whoever they were, stole various items of personal property from the building and that these several items had an aggregate value in excess of $50. The more narrow issue to be determined by us therefore is whether there is sufficient incriminating evidence tying Medina into the burglary and larceny.
The police by chance came upon this burglary as it was in progress. One officer testified that he saw 'shadows' in the office building here in question and that as he and his partner approached the lot from a rear alley he noticed that at least three, and possibly four persons, were involved. This particular officer gave chase to one of these three or four persons and the officer testified that he observed that the person to whom he had given chase was carrying some objects in his hands. The individual thus pursued by the officer was very quickly arrested when he 'came out on one side of some bushes' and the party thus arrested was identified upon trial as...
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