State v. Shuttle
Decision Date | 06 June 1967 |
Docket Number | No. 1978,1978 |
Citation | 126 Vt. 379,230 A.2d 794 |
Parties | STATE of Vermont v. John A. SHUTTLE. |
Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
W. Edson McKee, Montpelier, and John A Shuttle, pro se, for plaintiff.
Joseph C. Palmisano, State's Atty., for the State.
Before HOLDEN, C. J., and SHANGRAW, BARNEY, SMITH and KEYSER, JJ.
The respondent was found guilty of grand larceny in the Washington County Court on July 28, 1966. Following the jury's verdict of guilty, and before sentence, he moved that the court enter judgment in his favor notwithstanding the verdict of the jury, and in the alternative for a new trial. This motion was denied. Judgment was entered on the verdict and sentence imposed. On appeal the respondent now seeks a review in this Court.
The material facts as disclosed by the evidence are as follows: Kelly Construction, Inc., owned a large bronze bushing on April 12, 1966 which was stored in its compressor house located in the Town of Barre, Vermont. The following day this bushing was discovered missing. Its established value was $465.60 plus freight charges of $14.00. A large battery and a quantity of old bronze bushings were also gone.
The respondent was then employed by Kelly Construction, Inc., in its shop. On April 11, 1966 he and Raymond Goodell, another employee, were seen in the compressor room in which neither had authority to enter.
On May 7, 1966 Kenneth Plaster met the respondent in Pines Restaurant in Montpelier, Vermont, and then agreed to transport some junk for respondent to the place of Roy Bettis in Middlesex, Vermont. Mr. Bettis was a dealer in junk, furniture and antiques. Mr. Plaster had known the respondent for about three years, having met him in prison at Windsor.
The following day a number of boxes, brass and aluminum were transported to Middlesex in the automobile of Mr. Plaster and sold to Roy Bettis by the respondent. A second trip to Middlesex was made on the same day at which time the respondent also sold to Mr. Bettis a large bronze bushing, later identified as the one stolen from Kelly Construction, Inc. All of these items so sold, including the bronze bushing, were picked up at the residence of the respondent, on State Street, Montpelier, Vermont.
Following investigation it was discovered that the bronze bushing in question had been sold by Mr. Bettis to a scrap yard owner in Burlington, Vermont, and by him shipped to Albany, N. Y., where it was finally located and produced at the trial. Respondent was charged with the theft of this bronze bushing and convicted.
The respondent filed a brief separate and apart from that of his counsel. As one of his assignments of error he urges that he was denied a fair and impartial trial. This relates to the reception of evidence, and comments of the State's Attorney, which he now claims as improper and prejudicial. We now refer to the evidence in question.
Mr. Plaster was improved by the State as its witness and on direct examination by the State's Attorney the following questions were asked and answers received.
'Q Are you acquainted with the respondent, Jack Shuttle?
A Yes
Q How long?
A Off and on, three years. I met him in prison.'
Later in direct examination, counsel for the State further inquired of this witness:
'Q How long have you known Mr. Shuttle?
A I don't really known him personally. I met him at Windsor.'
The undeniable effect of the foregoing was to bring home to the jury the fact that the respondent had been previously convicted of a crime.
As stated in the case of State v. Garceau, 122 Vt. 303, 306, 170 A.2d 623, 625,
[126 Vt. 382] At page 306 of 122 Vt., at page 625 of 170 A.2d of the Garceau opinion, supra, appears the following cogent statement in support of the rule forbidding such inquiry.
While the line of inquiry does not reveal that respondent had been convicted of any crime, his presence 'in prison' and 'at Windsor' reasonably permitted...
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State v. Oakes, 8-68
...has since required that the arguments be transcribed, so that stating the objectionable language is no longer necessary. State v. Shuttle, 126 Vt. 379, 382, 230 A.2d 794. But as the Gravelle case points out, there is also an obligation to make known to the trial court the ground of the obje......
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State v. Moran
...impeach but to suggest both motive and a propensity to commit crime. It was manifestly and egregiously improper, State v. Shuttle, 126 Vt. 379, 382, 230 A.2d 794, 797 (1967), and through the plain error rule we have elected to address the issue upon our own motion, notwithstanding the failu......
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State v. Bishop, 27-69
...State v. Ballou, 127 Vt. 1, 3, 238 A.2d 658. Here, the evidence must be taken in the light most favorable to the State. State v. Shuttle, 126 Vt. 379, 383, 230 A.2d 794. The test laid down in passing upon these motions is whether the State introduced evidence fairly and reasonably tending t......
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State v. Rebideau
...which the trial court made no attempt to caution the jury at the time the objectionable testimony was entered, and from State v. Shuttle, 126 Vt. 379, 230 A.2d 794 (1967), in which testimony of defendant's prison record was twice disclosed on direct examination, and the State sought to take......