Veney v. Com.
| Decision Date | 24 April 1972 |
| Citation | 212 Va. 805,188 S.E.2d 80 |
| Parties | Paul Samuel VENEY v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
James C. Breeden, White Stone (Ammon G. Dunton, Dunton, Simmons & Dunton, White Stone, on brief), for plaintiff in error.
Gilbert W. Haith, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Andrew P. Miller, Atty. Gen., on brief), for defendant in error.
Before SNEAD, C.J., and I'ANSON, CARRICO, GORDON, HARRISON, COCHRAN and HARMAN, JJ.
The defendant, Paul Samuel Veney, was convicted by the trial court, sitting without a jury, of grand larceny for receiving stolen goods of the value of $100.00 or more. (Code §§ 18.1--100, --107.) He was sentenced to serve twelve months in jail, four months of which were suspended. We granted him a writ of error.
The sole question to be decided is whether the Commonwealth proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the property received by the defendant, an automobile motor, had a value of $100.00 or more at the time he received it.
The evidence showed that in July, 1968, James Hansen purchased a new 1968 Ford Mustang with a V--8 motor for $3,601.76. On August 16, 1968, after the automobile had been driven only 2100 to 2500 miles, it was stolen from Hansen's driveway in Alexandria. Four days later, the sheriff of Westmoreland County found a motor, later identified as having been taken from Hansen's automobile, in a wooded area of that county. The paint on the motor was in 'excellent shape.'
The sheriff and his deputies laid in wait in the woods. The defendant and five companions appeared on the scene and were arrested as they were loading the motor into the trunk of an automobile. The 'shell' of Hansen's vehicle was found the next day approximately five miles away.
At trial, James H. Doleman, the manager of a local Ford dealership, testified that in the latter part of August, 1968, he had examined a 1968 Mustang engine at the county jail. He stated that the engine was in good condition. He gave his opinion that the 'cost price on a new engine' was $1,200.00 and that the 'true market value' of the engine he had examined was approximately $600.00.
The defendant points out, and correctly so, that there was no showing that the motor appraised at the jail by Doleman was the same found by the sheriff in the defendant's possession. The defendant contends that since the motor appraised by Doleman was not so identified, the evidence was insufficient to show that the stolen motor had a value of $100.00 or more at the time he received it.
We do not agree. It should, of course, have been an easy matter for the Commonwealth to have connected the motor appraised by Doleman with the motor found in the defendant's possession. Had that connection been...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
ROBINSON v. Commonwealth of Va., Record No. 0465-09-2
...attempted to obtain.1 Value, like any other fact in a case, may be proved by circumstantial evidence. See Veney v. Commonwealth, 212 Va. 805, 806, 188 S.E.2d 80, 81 (1972). "[D]irect proof of a fact is not essential if circumstantial evidence proves the same fact and at the same time exclud......
-
Brown v. Commonwealth of Va.
...two hundred dollars.Value, like any other fact in a case, may be proved by circumstantial evidence. See Veney v. Commonwealth. 212 Va. 805, 806, 188 S.E.2d 80, 81 (1972). '[D]irect proof of a fact is not essential if circumstantial evidence proves the same fact and at the same time excludes......
-
Bliss v. Commonwealth
...evidence proves the same fact and at the same time excludes every reasonable hypothesis to the contrary." Veney v. Commonwealth, 212 Va. 805, 806, 188 S.E.2d 80, 81 (1972). This Court addressed whether an appellant knowingly possessed electronic images of child pornography in Kromer, 45 Va.......
-
Boone v. Stacy
...In criminal matters, the Virginia Supreme Court has indicated that value can be proved by circumstantial evidence. Veney v. Commonwealth, 212 Va. 805, 188 S.E.2d 80 (1972). The original purchase price of a used item recently purchased may be admitted as evidence of its current value with du......