State v. Benoit
| Decision Date | 11 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 348-75,348-75 |
| Citation | 392 A.2d 406,136 Vt. 431 |
| Parties | STATE of Vermont v. Marcel A. BENOIT. |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
William H. Sorrell, Chittenden County State's Atty., Burlington, for plaintiff.
James L. Morse, Defender Gen., Charles S. Martin, App. Defender, Montpelier, and Mary Reis, Law Clerk (on the brief), for defendant.
Before BARNEY, C. J., and DALEY, LARROW, BILLINGS and HILL, JJ.
The defendant was convicted in a trial by jury in the District Court of Vermont, Unit No. 2, Chittenden Circuit, on a charge of burglary in the nighttime of a gasoline station. He now appeals the trial court's denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal made at the close of the State's case. That the crime charged with all its requisite elements was committed is not disputed here. Rather, the claimed error rests on the proposition that the State's evidence, wholly circumstantial in nature, was insufficient to establish the defendant as the perpetrator of the crime. We agree and reverse accordingly.
To test the propriety of the trial court's denial of the defendant's motion for a judgment of acquittal, we determine whether the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the State, fairly and reasonably supports the jury's finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Bishop, 127 Vt. 11, 15, 238 A.2d 772, 774 (1968). Where the case is entirely circumstantial, we further subject the evidence to a second test of strict scrutiny. State v. Goodhart, 112 Vt. 154, 158, 22 A.2d 151, 153 (1941) (citations omitted).
The record below establishes the following facts. While driving home in the early morning hours of January 3, 1975, a part-time special officer of the Williston Police Department saw a single figure silhouetted by the lights of the gasoline station which was closed for the evening. He was, however, unable to perceive any further characteristics of the figure or its exact location inside or outside the station. Driving around the area, the officer noticed a car stuck in the snow on a nearby street, but did not see anyone in or around the car. Without getting out of his car to investigate on foot, the officer went home and called the State Police, reporting a possible breaking and entering of the gasoline station.
Two state troopers, responding to a radio dispatch at 1:18 a. m., arrived at the scene and found the station in total darkness. Shining a spotlight on the station, the troopers noticed a large broken window in one of the bay doors on the station's north side. Entering through this window, they further noticed a small pane of broken glass in a window comprised of several small panes joined by lattice work which stretched across the front of the station. The testimony was that this broken window was too small to admit someone the size of the defendant. On the floor of one of the bay areas of the station, the troopers found certain tools normally kept on a bench between a wooden door and a metal door. There was testimony that these tools were used to pry open the wooden door, which led to a storage area for petroleum products, and to attempt to break open the metal door. The analysis of these tools, however, revealed no fingerprints whatsoever. The only items missing from the station were three sets of keys, which were not found in the defendant's possession.
The troopers proceeded to the snowbound car and discovered the defendant lying on his back underneath the passenger side of the automobile in an apparently unconscious condition. In response to questioning, the defendant claimed he had been drinking at a bar and had passed out in the snow. Although there was testimony of a slight odor of alcohol on the defendant's breath, none of the officers who observed the defendant at the scene believed that he was intoxicated. At first the defendant could not remember whom he had been with that evening, but subsequently and inconsistently stated that he had been with Michael Foster and another person named Rick, and then changed his story again to include two unknown girls among his companions. He also stated that at no time had he been near the station. When confronted with Michael Foster, whom the police had discovered passed out in the woods nearby, the defendant made further inconsistent statements, first denying ever having seen Foster and then admitting that earlier that evening Foster had been driving the car now lodged in the snowbank.
In a further search of the area surrounding the gasoline station, the troopers discovered two sets of...
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State v. Angelucci
...the property piled outside raises strong suspicions, but, by themselves, such suspicions are not enough to convict. State v. Benoit, 136 Vt. 431, 435-36, 392 A.2d 406 (1978). Without evidence sufficiently establishing that the defendant broke and entered the building a charge of burglary ca......
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State v. Derouchie
...hypothesis of guilt had been excluded. See, e.g., State v. Larose, supra, 138 Vt. at 285, 415 A.2d at 212-13; State v. Benoit, 136 Vt. 431, 432-33, 392 A.2d 406, 407 (1978). Additionally, we have required the trial courts to instruct jurors to this effect. See, e.g., State v. Parker, 139 Vt......
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State v. Bourassa
...hypotheses but that of guilt, as is required when a conviction is based entirely on circumstantial evidence. State v. Benoit, 136 Vt. ---, 392 A.2d 406, 407 (1978); State v. Angelucci, 135 Vt. 43, 45, 373 A.2d 834, 835 (1977). The State admits that its case against the defendant is wholly c......
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State v. Bushey
...except that the defendant is guilty. That test applies when the proof is based on circumstantial evidence alone. State v. Benoit, 136 Vt. ---, ---, 392 A.2d 406, 407 (1978); State v. Bourassa, 137 Vt. ---, ---, 399 A.2d 507, 512 (1979). But even if all the evidence is viewed in the light of......