Coons v. State
Coons v. State
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff in error, hereafter called the defendant, brings this case here so that we may review the judgment of the district court for Cherry county. He was arrested August 13, 1915, and was charged with the crime of burglary alleged to have been committed on or about the 29th day of July, 1915. On the 6th day of October, 1915, he was sentenced to serve an indeterminate sentence of from one to ten years in the penitentiary. The evidence against him is circumstantial. Ten instructions were given by the court upon its own motion. In the motion for a new trial error is alleged in the giving of these instructions, but there is no discussion of any of them in the defendant’s brief. There was a motion by the defendant for a directed verdict, but this motion was overruled. The insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict is apparently' the main question upon which defendant’s counsel rely.
Briefly stated, the facts are as follows: One George O’Kieffe was building a house on his farm. On the evening of July 28, 1915, O’Kieffe and the men working with him left the house, which was then nearly completed. The
We are convinced that the jury were justified in disbelieving the testimony of defendant’s witnesses, and that
It is possible that the conclusion reached by the jury upon the circumstantial evidence is wrong, but the jurors were- inhabitants of the county, and much better qualified to determine the truth or falsity of the testimony than is this court. There is sufficient evidence in the record, if the jury disbelieved the defendant’s witnesses, to uphold the conviction.
The value of the property taken was found by the jury to be $35.25, only a few cents more than an amount for which the defendant could have been' convicted only of petit larceny. He had a wife and children. So far as the record shows, this is his first offense. It. may be doubted whether further punishment than he has already, suffered is advisable. It is to be hoped that the - parole board will take these facts into consideration.
The judgment of the district court is
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Elbern N. Coons v. State of Nebraska
- Status
- Published