State v. Norggins

• Decision Date: 08 March 1939
• Docket Number: 147.
• Citation: 1 S.E.2d 533,215 N.C. 220
• Parties: STATE v. NORGGINS.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

1 S.E.2d 533

215 N.C. 220

STATE v. NORGGINS.

No. 147.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

March 8, 1939

Criminal action in which the defendant was tried under bill of indictment which charge him with the larceny of ten cases of motor oil and four kegs of nails, the property of Alston Grocery Company.

The count in the bill charging that the defendant did receive the said property, knowing that the same had been stolen, was dismissed as of nonsuit. Upon the trial of the issue of larceny there was a verdict of guilty. From judgment pronounced thereon the defendant appealed.

Gholson & Gholson, of Henderson, for appellant.

Harry McMullan, Atty. Gen., and T. W. Bruton and R. H. Wettach Asst. Attys. Gen., for the State.

BARNHILL Justice.

The trial of this cause involved very largely questions of fact. The only material question of law presented to us for decision is as to whether there was sufficient evidence that the crime of larceny had been committed to justify the submission of the cause to a jury.

Evidence offered, considered in the light most favorable to the State, tends to show that the Alston Grocery Company of Warrenton is engaged in selling merchandise, including Sterling motor oil and nails, by wholesale; that the warehouse in which the oils and nails are stored and the garage in which the seven trucks used by the corporation in the delivery of merchandise are kept are under the same roof but that a person having access to the garage does not have access to the warehouse; that the defendant was the driver of one of the seven trucks used in the delivery of merchandise that one of the keys to the warehouse was kept at the office and the other one was kept by an employee, Pitt; that the dependant did not have access to a key or to the warehouse except when in company with another employee; that an officer of Halifax County searched the home of one Pat Baltrip of Halifax County and there found the merchandise described in the bill of indictment; and that the defendant shortly prior thereto, sometime after sundown and before midnight, carried the merchandise to the Baltrip home and requested that he be permitted to leave it in the house out of the rain.

Prior to the discovery of the merchandise none been missed from the warehouse and, after its discovery, no check was made of the merchandise to determine whether any had been wrongfully removed. One witness made an inspection of the windows of the warehouse and found several windows unlocked and a pane of glass broken out of one of the windows which opened into the garage. The employee who had a key to the warehouse testified that the defendant had no access to the warehouse except in his presence; that the doors were kept locked; that he examined the latches on all of the windows after the goods were brought back and they were all fastened; that he examined them as soon as he heard that some goods were...