Gossett v. State

455 S.W.2d 585, 224 Tenn. 374, 1970 Tenn. LEXIS 385
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedMay 22, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 455 S.W.2d 585 (Gossett v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gossett v. State, 455 S.W.2d 585, 224 Tenn. 374, 1970 Tenn. LEXIS 385 (Tenn. 1970).

Opinions

[377]*377Mb. Special Justice BozemaN

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In a three-count indictment Gossett and Johnson were charged with third degree burglary, grand larceny and receiving and concealing stolen property with a value of more than One Hundred Dollars. The jury returned a not guilty verdict as to the first two counts but found them guilty of the third count, and their punishment was fixed at not less than three nor more than eight years in the State Penitentiary. The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed. The judges were of the opinion that there was no evidence in the record that the Defendants received the property from some third person, that all of the evidence is to the contrary, and that the State concedes that there is no direct proof in the record that the Defendants knew the property had been stolen or that they received it from a third person. Prom this point the Court reasoned that the essential elements prescribed in T.C.A. sec. 39-4217 are lacking in the evidence presented for conviction of the crime of receiving so the conviction of receiving stolen property was reversed. Under the holding of Jones v. State, 219 Tenn. 228, 409 S.W.2d 169, and particularly Deerfield v. State, 220 Tenn. 546, 420 S.W.2d 649, the case was remanded for a new trial on the single charge of concealing stolen property. The judges were [378]*378of the opinion that there was no direct evidence that the Defendants knew the property had been stolen. Kessler v. State, 220 Tenn. 82, 414 S.W.2d 115.

The Opinion of the Court of Appeals was filed prior to our Opinion in Tackett v. State, 223 Tenn. 176, 443 S.W.2d 450. We granted Certiorari in this case for the same reason Certiorari was granted in Tackett because of the apparent misunderstanding of the Court’s Opinions in Deerfield and Kessler; also, to determine whether or not the rule pronounced in Tackett is applicable to the facts of the instant case.

In Tackett v. State, supra, we state:

“In Deerfield we held that where the only proof in the case was that the property had been stolen by Deer-field, he could not be convicted for the offense of receiving it. In Kessler we restated the objective test rule as to guilty knowledge of the theft, first adopted in this state in Wright v. State, 13 Tenn. 154, restating it in accordance with Wharton’s Criminal Law and Procedure:
“That is, the existence of guilty knowledge is to be regarded as established when the circumstances surrounding the receipt of the property were such as would charge a reasonable man with notice or knowledge or would put a reasonable man upon inquiry which if pursued would disclose that conclusion.” Wharton’s Criminal Law & Procedure, Anderson, Yol. 2, p. 281, sec. 568.

In Tackett, the Court held that neither Deerfield nor Kessler had any direct application to the facts of that case. In Tackett we held another proposition applicable:

[379]*379“While it is the rule as first held in Wright v. State, supra, and as restated in Kessler, that guilty knowledge is necessary to sustain a conviction for receiving and concealing stolen property, it must also be the rule, because logic and good judgment require it, that the unexplained exclusive possession of stolen property shortly after commission of the robbery may warrant a finding that the possessor has guilty knowledge of the larceny or robbery. And unless this exclusive possession of stolen property after larceny or robbery is accounted for in a straightforward, truthful way, and unless the jury finds the explanation reasonable and satisfactory, the jury would be warranted in returning a verdict of guilty of receiving and concealing stolen property.”

This is in general accord with 76 C.J.S. Receiving Stolen Goods sec. 17b, Wharton’s Criminal Evidence, Vol. 1, Chap. 4, Sec. 135; Pearson v. United States, 6 Cir., 192 F.2d 681 (1952); Minor v. United States, 8 Cir., 375 F.2d 170, certiorari denied 389 U.S. 882, 88 S.Ct. 131, 19 L.Ed. 2d 177 (1967).

The proof is that sometime between December 24, and 7:00 A.M. on December 27, in the year 1966, John Oster Manufacturing Company was forceably entered. An attempt was made to break into the Company’s safe. Various windows had been broken and there existed footprints in the mud outside the building and muddy footprints inside the building. This occurred while Oster was closed for the Christmas Holiday and was discovered when the plant engineer appeared on the scene following which the local police were summoned. On that same day employees of Oster were cleaning up the premises sur[380]*380rounding the building. In the process of clean-up, ten cartons of Oster merchandise were found in a wooded area approximately one-fourth mile as the crow flies and one mile by road from the Oster plant. No direct evidence was offered as to how or when the ten cartons were placed in the wooded area. The condition of the cartons is in dispute as to whether they had weathered or not and they were not offered in evidence by the State nor did the defense request that they be presented. There is no dispute over the fact that the cartons were clearly marked with the name John Oster Manufacturing Company and that the Defendants knew the identification. On behalf of Oster it was contended that the goods are owned by Oster and were stolen from Oster. The police officers who had been summoned, observed the cartons, marked each one for later identification and replaced them in the wooded area where they had been discovered. On the evening of December 27, about 7:30 P.M. the Defendants entered the dirt road which had a dead-end in • the wooded area where the cartons were located. Defendant Johnson was driving the automobile. They loaded the cartons in the truck and back seat of the car. While driving on the dirt road they were stopped by police officers who had staked out the area. They were arrested and charged. The Defendants explanation was that they had been rabbit hunting from between 10:00-11:00 A.M. to 4:00-5:00 P.M. on December 27, over a wide area in the vicinity of the manufacturing plant. They contend that about. 4:00 P.M. in the afternoon they entered the wooded area on foot, observed the cartons among other refuse and assumed that they had been discarded or abandoned. Defendants returned to their car and proceeded to their respective homes. After the evening meal [381]*381they met each other by chance without any prearrangement in downtown Dayton. After discussing the events of the day they decided to enter the dirt road and pick up the cartons which they did. Defendant Gossett denied that he had ever been in the manufacturing plant, but Defendant Johnson admitted that he worked as a painter for the contractor who built the plant and that his employment at the plant site ended about one month before the Christmas Holidays.

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Taylor v. State
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Gossett v. State
455 S.W.2d 585 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
455 S.W.2d 585, 224 Tenn. 374, 1970 Tenn. LEXIS 385, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gossett-v-state-tenn-1970.