State v. Day

• Decision Date: 14 July 1972
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Richard DAY and Robert Day.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 331

293 A.2d 331

STATE of Maine v. Richard DAY and Robert Day.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

July 14, 1972.

Alan C. Pease, County Atty., Wisdasset, for plaintiff.

Samuel G. Cohen, Waldoboro, for Richard Day.

Richard W. Elliott, Boothbay Harbor, for Robert Day.

Before DUFRESNE, C. J., and WEBBER, WEATHERBEE, POMEROY, WERNICK and ARCHIBALD, JJ.

WEBBER, Justice.

In these two cases tried together the defendants were convicted of grand larceny. The evidence disclosed that they were observed forcibly removing copper lightning rod cable from a dwelling house and shortly after were apprehended with a quantity of such cable in their truck. This conviction is before us on appeal.

It is first contended that since the State has failed to show any lapse of time between the severance of the cable from the realty to which it was affixed and the asportation thereof from the owner's premises, no larceny has been shown but at most a trespass. Our larceny statute, 17 M.R.S.A., Sec. 2101, in pertinent part provides:

'Whoever steals, takes and carries away, of the property of another, * * * goods or chattels, * * * is guilty of larceny; * * *.'

The defendants contend that the statute does not make realty the subject of larceny and the common law rule with respect thereto must govern. It is interesting to note that in 150 years this issue has not been raised or decided and that with respect to the interpretation to be given to the statute in this regard, the case is one of novel impression in this jurisdiction.

The common law rule was fairly stated in the text found in 50 Am.Jur.2d 242, Sec. 72 in these terms:

'At early common law, realty or anything adhering to or savoring thereof was not a subject of larceny. It was essential to the nature of larceny that the goods taken possess the quality of mobility. Because of the permanent and stable nature of land, it could not be feloniously taken and carried away; therefore it was not larceny to steal anything adhering to the soil, or annexed thereto so as to partake of the character thereof, and not previously severed therefrom * * *.'

In Sec. 73 we find:

'The application of the common-law rule to cases where the severance and the unlawful taking are accomplished by the same person is frequently difficult, and guilt of larceny has often been made to depend on nice and extremely technical distinctions wholly unrelated to the inherently culpable conduct of the thief. In jurisdictions following the rule, if there is a severance, and the severing and carrying away is by one continuous act, the wrong amounts merely to a trespass, on the theory that there is no interval of time between the severance and the carrying away during which the thing taken can be said to be in the actual or constructive possession of the owner in its new character as personalty. But where the severing and carrying away constitute two transactions, this objection does not apply, and the object severed may become a subject of larceny.'

Since the theft of personal property severed from real estate is ordinarily done in great secrecy and in most cases it would be impossible for the State to prove that severance and asportation were not one continuous act, one is led to wonder how a rule so patently beneficial to thieves would have been evolved in the early common law. It may well be that the answer is accurately suggested in Bishop's Criminal Law, 9th Ed., Vol. 2, P. 584, Sec. 760 wherein we find:

'The horribly severe punishment (death) meted out for this offense in earlier times has also been influential in inducing courts to refine and limit the crime. This process frequently enabled them, in cases which they deemed to be meritorious, to avoid the necessity of pronouncing the death penalty. The subject of larceny therefore is the best illustration of the old saying that hard cases make bad law.'

In this country from earliest days courts were critical of the fiction which required at least a momentary break in time and action between severance from realty and subsequent asportation. In a number of states the problem was rectified by statute. Even in those few jurisdictions in which the courts felt constrained to adhere to the common law concept, they did so reluctantly and critically. Still other courts refused to be bound by the common law concept and in the mid 19th century there had grown up what was even then referred to as the modern and enlightened rule that if property be severed from realty by a thief in such form as then to have identifiable status and value as personal property and if it then be feloniously taken and carried away by the thief, even though severance and asportation involve one unbroken and continuous act, the thief is guilty of larceny. Support for this rule is found, either in holding or dictum, in such cases as State v. Donahue (1914) 75 Or. 409, 144 P. 755; ¹ State v. Wolf (1907) 22 Del. 323, 66 A. 739; Junod v. State (1905) 73 Neb. 208, 102 N.W. 462; ² Smith v. Commonwealth (1878) 77 Ky. 31; Harberger v. State (1878) 4 Tex.App. 26, 30 Am.Rep. 157. ³

We are satisfied that the early criticisms of the common law rule were fully justified. In a modern mobile society in which the attachment of all manner of valuable appliances and gadgets to the realty is commonplace, we see no occasion to attribute to the Legislature any intention to so narrowly circumscribe the meaning of the words 'goods or chattels' in our larceny statute as to make the stealing of chattels severed from realty an attractive and lucrative occupation. We accordingly hold in the instant case that the proof of larceny was not fatally deficient merely because the severance and asportation of the lightning rod cable may, for want of proof to the contrary, have constituted one continuous and unbroken act by the defendants.

The second issue raised by the defendants relates to the value of the cable in their hands. In effect the defendants contend that even if they were proven guilty of larceny, they were not proven guilty of grand larceny, a felony, which under our statute then required that the stolen property have a value exceeding $100. When on April 1, 1970 the defendants were apprehended very shortly after their removal of the cable, there was found in their truck approximately 274 feet of cable. thE state at the outset proceeded on the theory that all of this cable had come from the house and barn on the owner's premises. There was in fact testimony given by the owner that there was cable on both house and barn that day. When later a witness was offered by the defendants who had had opportunity as a caretaker to have familiarity with the premises for a much longer time than the present owner, and when this witness stated that all cable had been removed from the barn many years before and cable remained only on the house, the State evidently concluded that the knowledge and observation of the defense witness were accurate and trust-worthy and should be accepted. Accordingly, the State conceded both to the Court and in argument to the jury that not more than 150 feet of cable had been taken, and this from the house. This meant that the jury must find on the basis of probative evidence that the 150 feet of cable had a value of at least 67 cents per foot in order to establish a value in excess of $100. At trial the defendants took the position that the cable had only junk value as copper which was shown to be 48 cents a pound or from 16 to 24 cents per foot. The Justice below properly declined to permit the defendants to have the benefit of the junk price if by their wrongful act they had destroyed the value of cable for its proper use as cable and transformed it into junk. On appeal, however, defendants have abandoned their claim with respect to value as junk and now assert with considerably greater persuasiveness that the State has shown no value of the cable as used cable in excess of 45 to 55 cents per foot, a range inadeaquate to prove the felony.

The evidence discloses that there is only a very limited market for lightning rod cable for use as cable since it can only be purchased and installed by licensed persons who constitute the entire market. Nevertheless, as the evidence shows, there is an identifiable market and a basis for establishing the fair market value of used cable. Two licensed installers gave testimony. Mr. Parlin indicated that he buys used cable on occasion but only when he has a prospect for a lightning rod installation in which he could use such cable. He indicated that he would have been willing to pay 50 cents per foot for the cable involved in this case if he had had a prospective customer. He also stated that new cable costs him 55 cents per foot and he sells it to the customer for $1.50 per foot including labor and other installation costs. Mr. King actually arranged with the owner to purchase this used cable from her at a price of 45 cents per foot. It is apparent that he also performs used cable installations and was purchasing this used cable for that purpose since the 45 cent price is substantially more than the junk price. He also pays 55 cents for new cable but his price for the installation of new cable is $1.50 per foot exclusive of labor and other costs. Neither witness was ever asked and therefore never stated what price they would charge per foot for used cable which they might install and which was in the same or similar condition as the used cable in this case. The evidence is thus left in the posture of disclosing a conglomerate of prices which significantly fail to demonstrate a fair market value of this cable at the moment of severance equal to or in excess of the requisite 67 cents per foot. More specifically we have:

1. 16 to 24 cets-junk price not applicable

2. 45 cents-wholesale price actually paid for this cable

3. 50 cents-estimated wholesale price for this cable

4. 55 cents-wholesale price for new cable

5. $1.50-installed retail price for new...