Patalas v. United States

D.C. Circuit

Patalas v. United States

185 F.2d 507, 87 U.S. App. D.C. 379, 1950 U.S. App. LEXIS 3320

CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

DecidedNovember 9, 1950

Docket10687

StatusPublished

This text of 185 F.2d 507 (Patalas v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Patalas v. United States, 185 F.2d 507, 87 U.S. App. D.C. 379, 1950 U.S. App. LEXIS 3320 (D.C. Cir. 1950).

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Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a conviction of the crime of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. 22 D.C. Code § 2204 (1940). The complaining witness parked his car at Sixth and H Streets, N. W., at about 2 a. m. on April 5, 1950. A short time after-wards, the car was found, considerably damaged, on a street-car platform at Seventh and K Streets, N. W. Meanwhile, some time between 2:15 a. m. and 2:25 a. m., a police officer saw appellant emerging — staggering and with bleeding forehead — from an alley in the vicinity. Believing that appellant was intoxicated, this officer arrested him. When appellant was taken to a hospital for treatment of the cut on his forehead, a pair of spectacles with one broken lens was found in his coat pocket. Later, several pieces of glass were found beneath the steering wheel of the automobile here in question. At the trial below, these pieces of glass were offered in evidence and appeared to fit the pieces in the lens perfectly.

Appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal was properly denied. Not only the broken pieces of glass but also appellant’s proximity to the place where the automobile was found and the cut on his forehead, which might have been incurred at the time the car was damaged, were evidence sufficient to take the case to the jury.

Appellant’s objections to the instructions of the court below, and to the admission of the pieces of glass in evidence, are clearly without merit.

Affirmed.

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PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a conviction of the crime of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. 22 D.C. Code § 2204 (1940). The complaining witness parked his car at Sixth and H Streets, N. W., at about 2 a. m. on April 5, 1950. A short time after-wards, the car was found, considerably damaged, on a street-car platform at Seventh and K Streets, N. W. Meanwhile, some time between 2:15 a. m. and 2:25 a. m., a police officer saw appellant emerging — staggering and with bleeding forehead — from an alley in the vicinity. Believing that appellant was intoxicated, this officer arrested him. When appellant was taken to a hospital for treatment of the cut on his forehead, a pair of spectacles with one broken lens was found in his coat pocket. Later, several pieces of glass were found beneath the steering wheel of the automobile here in question. At the trial below, these pieces of glass were offered in evidence and appeared to fit the pieces in the lens perfectly.

Appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal was properly denied. Not only the broken pieces of glass but also appellant’s proximity to the place where the automobile was found and the cut on his forehead, which might have been incurred at the time the car was damaged, were evidence sufficient to take the case to the jury.

Appellant’s objections to the instructions of the court below, and to the admission of the pieces of glass in evidence, are clearly without merit.

Affirmed.

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185 F.2d 507, 87 U.S. App. D.C. 379, 1950 U.S. App. LEXIS 3320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patalas-v-united-states-cadc-1950.

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