Harper v. State

Mississippi Supreme Court
Harper v. State, 71 Miss. 202 (Miss. 1893)
Woods

Harper v. State

Opinion of the Court

Woods, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The evidence of recent possession by the accused of any goods proved to have been burglariously, stolen from the store-house of Kelly & Mills, is very unsatisfactory; and the •evidence of the burglary itself, as it appears in the record, is also very unsatisfactory.

But we reverse the judgment of the court below because of error committed in giving the first instruction asked by the state. This instruction is clearly in the face of the rule laid down in Stokes v. State, 58 Miss., 677, and re-affirmed in Matthews v. State, 61 Ib., 155. The law raises no presumption from recent possession of stolen goods. Such possession is a circumstance for the jury’s consideration in determining the question of the defendant’s guilt, and, in the absence of a reasonable explanation, the jury may infer guilt.

This instruction is peculiarly obnoxious, inasmuch as possession, and not recent possession, is said by it to raise the .legal presumption of guilt. Hence, it is doubly erroneous.

Reversed and remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name
Ed Harper v. State
Cited By
8 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
Burglary and Larceny. Recent possession. Presumption. While the recent possession by accused of property burglariously stolen is a circumstance which may be considered, and from which, in the absence of a reasonable explanation, the jury may infer guilt, yet the law does not raise a presumption of guilt from such possession, and it is error to instruct that it does. Matthews v. State, 61 Miss., 155.