Walton v. Commonwealth
Walton v. Commonwealth
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
John Walton was indicted by the grand jury of Bell County for' the offense of feloniously breaking into the storehouse of another with intent to steal therefrom. A jury found him guilty, and from the judgment predicated on the verdict, he prosecutes this appeal.
The evidence shows that Huston Hobbs owns a shop, or store room, in Pineville, Ky., where he is engaged in the business of repairing shoes. On the night of Saturday, February 6, 1912, Hobbs, after closing his place of business and fastening every window, went away. During the night, someone tore off a piece of tin which was over one of the windows, and unlatching one of the shutters, went into the store room and carried away a pair of boots and two pairs of shoes. The next morning Hobbs discovered that some of his stock was missing, and on examining the ground, which was covered with snow, found the tracks of the person who had broken in. The tracks were peculiar in that the left foot made a full track while the right foot did not, owing to the fact that the toe of that foot had not been pressed down into the snow. The evidence further shows that appellant had lost part of his right foot, and his right foot did not make a full track. When appellant was arrested, he was brought to' the store and his feet were fitted into the
The evidence for the appellant is to the effect that he was present at Hobbs’ shop on Saturday, and that the tracks which were subsequently discovered were made by him when there. He was not at the store room on Saturday night, and did not break into it. He claims that he purchased the shoes from a negro by the name of Tom Kyle. His mother and a girl who lived with his mother, and possibly one other witness, corroborate him in this statement.
In rebuttal, the Commonwealth showed that it was still snowing when appellant was at the shop during the day on Saturday. After that time it stopped snowing, and the tracks which fit appellant’s shoes were made after it had stopped snowing. The Commonwealth also introduced Tom Kyle, who was then living in Knoxville, Tennessee. He testifies that he did not sell appellant any boots or shoes on the occasion in question, and appellant did not get the boots or shoes from him. On cross-examination, it developed that this witness had served a term'in the Tennessee penitentiary. The Commonwealth also showed that the appellant’s reputation for veracity was bad.
The facts of this case are materially different from those of Blankenship v. Commonwealth, 147 Ky., 768. In that case, twenty pairs of shoes, the property of the Northeast Coal Company, were stolen from a box car. standing on a side track at Auxier Station, in Floyd County. It was not shown that the defendant had ever been at Auxier at or near the day when the shoes were
While it is true that the court should not have permitted to go to the jury evidence of the fact that appellant had stated that he and the girl who lived with his mother were married, the error of the court in this respect was not prejudicial to appellant’s substantial rights.
The law of the case was presented to the jury by instructions which are not subject to criticism.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.