Comfort v. People

Citations

• 54 Ill. 404

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence—res gestee. Upon the trial of a party under an indictment for the larceny of a watch, it was proven that the prisoner, being in possession of the watch a short time after it was stolen, met a pawnbroker away from the place of business of the latter, and proposed to pledge the watch as security for a loan of money. Thereupon the parties went together to the pawnbroker’s shop, when the prisoner received the money and placed the watch in pledge: Held, it was competent for the prisoner to prove all that was said by him, when he first approached the pawnbroker, in connection with the subject, and as to the manner in which he obtained the watch—not only as a part of the res gestee, but as a part of the conversation—to be given such weight by the jury as, from all the evidence in the case, it might seem entitled.</p> <p>3. Criminal law—the possession of stolen property soon after the theft was committed, is prima facie evidence that the property was stolen by the person in whose possession it was found—that fact, of itself, in the absence of evidence rebutting the presumption of guilt arising therefrom, will authorize a conviction.</p> <p>3. Former decision. The case of Conkright v. The People, 35 Ill. 204, is not to be understood as holding a different rule.</p>