Joseph James Butor, II v. Commonwealth of Virginia

CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedFebruary 23, 2010
Docket0830092
StatusUnpublished

This text of Joseph James Butor, II v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Joseph James Butor, II v. Commonwealth of Virginia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joseph James Butor, II v. Commonwealth of Virginia, (Va. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Frank, Kelsey and Haley Argued at Richmond, Virginia

JOSEPH JAMES BUTOR, II MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY v. Record No. 0830-09-2 JUDGE D. ARTHUR KELSEY FEBRUARY 23, 2010 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY Samuel E. Campbell, Judge

(Amanda Nicole Mann; Law Offices of David L. Cloninger, on brief), for appellant. Appellant submitting on brief.

Erin M. Kulpa, Assistant Attorney General (William C. Mims, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

The trial court convicted Joseph James Butor, II, of unauthorized use of a vehicle in

violation of Code § 18.2-102. On appeal, Butor contends the evidence was insufficient to

support his conviction. We disagree and affirm.

I.

On appeal, we review the evidence in the “light most favorable” to the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth v. Hudson, 265 Va. 505, 514, 578 S.E.2d 781, 786 (2003). This principle

requires us to “discard the evidence of the accused in conflict with that of the Commonwealth,

and regard as true all the credible evidence favorable to the Commonwealth and all fair

inferences to be drawn therefrom.” Parks v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 492, 498, 270 S.E.2d 755,

759 (1980) (emphasis and citation omitted). Our examination of the record “is not limited to the

evidence mentioned by a party in trial argument or by the trial court in its ruling. In determining

whether there is evidence to sustain a conviction, an appellate court must consider all the

* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not designated for publication. evidence admitted at trial that is contained in the record.” Bolden v. Commonwealth, 275 Va.

144, 147, 654 S.E.2d 584, 586 (2008) (emphasis added).

Butor moved into the home of Mary Janosik in June 2008. Janosik, a close family friend,

provided him with a place to stay and free use of her vehicle.1 She let him use the vehicle to get

back and forth from work so she would not have to transport him. Without fail, he returned the

vehicle each night after work. In September 2008, Butor told Janosik he intended to move out.

After Butor failed to show up one night after work, Janosik retrieved Butor’s cell phone number

from a “caller ID” device which had captured his number when he had called her residence on

prior occasions. On September 24, Janosik left a voice message on Butor’s cell phone. 2 Her

message instructed Butor to return her vehicle and pick up his belongings from her home. A

short time after Janosik left the voice message, Butor returned to her home to retrieve his

belongings. He did not, however, return her vehicle.

On September 25, Janosik reported the matter to the police and secured a warrant for

Butor’s arrest. Police later found Butor and the vehicle at his mother’s residence. A grand jury

indicted Butor for unauthorized use of Janosik’s vehicle “on or about” September 24 to 25. At

trial, Butor took the stand in his own defense and claimed he believed he had Janosik’s

permission to keep the vehicle even after he moved out of her home. Butor admitted he had a

cell phone, but denied Janosik ever left a voice message asking him to return her vehicle and

pick up his belongings from her home.

The trial court found Butor, a convicted felon, not credible and accepted in full the

inculpatory testimony of Janosik. Finding Butor guilty, the trial court stated: “There’s no

1 In her testimony, Janosik refers to Butor as her nephew. Janosik is an ex-sister-in-law of Nancy Simpson, Butor’s mother. 2 At trial, Janosik testified she went to the police the day after leaving the voice message for Butor.

-2- question that [Janosik] revoked her permission for him to have this vehicle after he was gone

. . . . And he had the vehicle sometime after he moved out of the house, and he knew that that

was not proper.” Butor appeals his conviction, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence.

II. A. APPELLATE STANDARD OF REVIEW

An appellate court does not “ask itself whether it believes that the evidence at the trial

established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Williams v. Commonwealth, 278 Va. 190, 194,

677 S.E.2d 280, 282 (2009) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-19 (1979))

(emphasis in original). 3 “Rather, the relevant question is whether ‘any rational trier of fact could

have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’” Id. (citation omitted

and emphasis in original). We are “not permitted to reweigh the evidence,” Nusbaum v. Berlin,

273 Va. 385, 408, 641 S.E.2d 494, 507 (2007), because appellate courts have no authority “to

preside de novo over a second trial,” Haskins v. Commonwealth, 44 Va. App. 1, 11, 602 S.E.2d

402, 407 (2004).

B. UNAUTHORIZED USE OF A VEHICLE

To establish unauthorized use of a vehicle, “the Commonwealth needs to show that a

defendant knew he was not authorized to use the vehicle.” Montague v. Commonwealth, 40

Va. App. 430, 437, 579 S.E.2d 667, 670 (2003). “The main difference between common law

larceny and the statutory offense of unauthorized use is that in the former there must be an intent

to deprive the owner of his property permanently, while in the latter the intent is to deprive the

owner of possession of his automobile temporarily and without any intent to steal the same.”

3 See also McMillan v. Commonwealth, 277 Va. 11, 19, 671 S.E.2d 396, 399 (2009); Jones v. Commonwealth, 277 Va. 171, 182, 670 S.E.2d 727, 734 (2009); Maxwell v. Commonwealth, 275 Va. 437, 442, 657 S.E.2d 499, 502 (2008).

-3- McEachern v. Commonwealth, 52 Va. App. 679, 684, 667 S.E.2d 343, 345 (2008) (citation

omitted and emphasis in original).

A defendant violates Code § 18.2-102 when he knowingly exceeds the scope of his

authorized use or continues to use the vehicle after the owner has withdrawn consent:

When an owner consents to another person having temporary possession of the owner’s vehicle, but does not consent to its use beyond a designated period of possession, the statute is violated when such use continues without the owner’s consent and is accompanied by an intent to temporarily deprive the owner of possession of the vehicle.

Tucker v. Commonwealth, 268 Va. 490, 494, 604 S.E.2d 66, 68 (2004); see also Overstreet v.

Commonwealth, 17 Va. App. 234, 238, 435 S.E.2d 906, 908-09 (1993).

In this case, the trial court specifically found Butor received Janosik’s voice message.

The evidence supports this finding. After he moved out of her home, Janosik retrieved Butor’s

cell phone number from her “caller ID,” called him using that number, and left a voice message

instructing him to pick up his belongings from her home and return her vehicle. See generally

Tatum v. Commonwealth, 17 Va. App. 585, 588, 440 S.E.2d 133, 135-36 (1994) (noting a

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Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
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687 S.E.2d 742 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2010)
Singleton v. Com.
685 S.E.2d 668 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2009)
Williams v. Com.
677 S.E.2d 280 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2009)
McMillan v. Com.
671 S.E.2d 396 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2009)
Jones v. Com.
670 S.E.2d 727 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2009)
Ortiz v. Com.
667 S.E.2d 751 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2008)
Maxwell v. Com.
657 S.E.2d 499 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2008)
Bolden v. Com.
654 S.E.2d 584 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2008)
Nusbaum v. Berlin
641 S.E.2d 494 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2007)
Tucker v. Com.
604 S.E.2d 66 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2004)
Commonwealth v. Hudson
578 S.E.2d 781 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2003)
Ward v. Commonwealth
570 S.E.2d 827 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2002)
Bloom v. Commonwealth
554 S.E.2d 84 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 2001)
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682 S.E.2d 556 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2009)
James v. Commonwealth
674 S.E.2d 571 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2009)
Clanton v. Commonwealth
673 S.E.2d 904 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2009)
McEachern v. Commonwealth
667 S.E.2d 343 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2008)
Coleman v. Commonwealth
660 S.E.2d 687 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2008)
Ferguson v. Commonwealth
658 S.E.2d 692 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2008)

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