People v. Nicolosi

Citations

• 4 Cal. Unrep. 341
• 34 P. 824
• 1893 Cal. LEXIS 1136

Syllabus

<p>Larceny—Possession of Stolen Property.—A trunk alleged to have been stolen by defendant was found in a shanty which had been occupied by defendant and another for several weeks. The officer searching for it found it, with another trunk, under defendant’s bed, covered over with old clothing; and defendant, when asked what it was, replied that it was nothing. When ordered to open it, he said he did not have the key, but when the trunk was examined the lock was found to be broken, and a letter was found in it, addressed to defendant’s brother. Being asked whose name it was, and how it came there, defendant said it was his name, and that he put the letter in the trunk himself. Defendant said that the trunk had been left there two weeks before by a man whom he did not know, and who promised to pay him for keeping it. It was shown that the trunk had been stolen about two weeks before it was found in defendant’s possession. Held, sufficient to warrant a finding that defendant stole the trunk.</p> <p>Larceny—Possession of Stolen Goods.—As the evidence clearly proved that the trunk was found either in the sole possession of defendant, or the joint possession of defendant and the person occupying the room with him, the court properly refused to charge that if the trunk was only found in a house which defendant occupied jointly with another, equally capable of having committed the theft, then no definite presumption of guilt could be made, the instruction not being applicable to the facts.</p> <p>Larceny—Evidence.—It was not Error for the Court to Permit a witness to describe the trunk found with the one that had been stolen, such evidence not being given to show that such trunk had been stolen or lost.</p>