Poag v. State

567 S.W.2d 775, 1978 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 307
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedFebruary 28, 1978
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 567 S.W.2d 775 (Poag v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Poag v. State, 567 S.W.2d 775, 1978 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 307 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinions

OPINION

TATUM, Judge.

The appellant, Arch Poag, was convicted of cutting and removing timber of another in violation of T.C.A. § 39-4521 and his [776]*776punishment was fixed at eleven months and twenty-nine days in the County Jail. The appellant made three assignments of error in which he insists that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and preponderated against the jury verdict. He-also claims that the State failed to prove that the prosecuting witness had legal title to the land or. was in actual or constructive possession of it when the timber was cut and the Trial Judge erred in refusing certain evidence offered on his behalf. The assignments are without merit.

We will summarize the facts accredited by the jury. On 29 September 1945, two tracts of land were conveyed to Noah Wiss by warranty deeds. One tract, consisting of approximately 200 acres, was located in Hickman County. The other tract consisting of 50 acres, was located in Lewis County, but adjoined the 200-acre tract. ■ Separate deeds were given for each tract. Mr. Wiss had a residence on the 200-acre tract and much of it was suitable for cultivation and pasture and used in this manner. The 50-acre tract was unenclosed, rolling woodland.

In late August, 1974, the appellant cut and removed approximately 65 hickory, poplar and oak trees from the central portion of the 50-acre tract. He marketed the timber at Turnbow’s Sawmill for $328.00.

The appellant testified that he and his wife had searched the public records of Lewis and Hickman County and concluded that there were from 300 to 600 acres of “vacant” (unowned) land in this area. They had a surveyor plat all of the deeds that they could find from the public records and then their son-in-law signed a quitclaim deed to them to the lands that they thought were not covered by any deed. The quitclaim deed was dated 10 August 1973, and was made and accepted only for the purpose of permitting the appellant and his wife to set up a claim to the land. The appellant’s son-in-iaw did not purport to have any interest in the land. The appellant did not pay taxes on the land.

Prior to cutting the timber, the appellant requested Mr. Wiss to pay one-half the expenses of having his 50-acre tract surveyed. Mr. Wiss refused, but on 24 August 1974, had the land surveyed by a licensed survey- or of his own choice. The appellant had Mr. Wiss’s land surveyed by his wife’s nephew who was a licensed surveyor. The appellant and his son-in-law accompanied Mr. Wiss’s surveyor in running the eastern line of the 50-acre tract and were present when the southeast corner was located.

We will first address the appellant’s assignment in which he insists that the State failed to prove that Mr. Wiss was the owner of the 50-acre tract. When one acquires different tracts of land conveyed by separate deeds, or by the same deed when the tracts are defined by district boundaries, the actual possession of one of the tracts is not extended by operation of law to the other, although the two tracts adjoin. Camp v. Riddle, 128 Tenn. 294, 160 S.W. 844 (1913); Lumber & Coal Co. v. Bass, 136 Tenn. 687, 191 S.W. 341 (1916). Thus, the actual possession of the 200-acre tract did not give Mr. Wiss constructive possession of the 50-acre tract. The State insists that Mr. Wiss’s legal title does not depend upon a theory of constructive possession.

The appellant relies on Yates v. State, 206 Tenn. 118, 332 S.W.2d 186 (1960). In that case, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that: “Title must be proved either (1) by deraignment from the State, or (2) from a common source, or (3) by adverse possession under some statute of limitations, or (4) adverse possession without any assurance of title for a period of twenty years or more from which under our common law a title will be presumed.”

It is the theory of the State that there was evidence upon which the jury could find Mr. Wiss to be the presumed owner of the land under T.C.A. § 28-209:

“28-209. Presumption of ownership from payment of taxes. — Any person holding any real estate or land of any kind, or any legal or equitable interest therein, who has paid, or who and those through whom he claims have paid, the state and county taxes on the same for [777]*777more than twenty (20) years continuously prior to the date when any question arises in any of the courts of this state concerning the same, and who has had, or who and those through whom he claims have had, his deed, conveyance, grant or other assurance of title recorded in the register’s office of the county in which the land lies, for said period of more than twenty (20) years, shall be presumed pri-ma facie to be the legal owner of said land.”

There was evidence that Mr. Wiss sold the merchantable timber on the 50-acre tract in 1955 and again in 1970. In addition, he sold small amounts of timber from the tract from time to time. He cut firewood for his own use from the 50-acre tract and he also cut cedar posts for his own use. He sold minerals for a minimum of a five-year period in 1947 and permitted people to hunt on the land. He paid State and County taxes on the 50-acre tract for the past thirty years. His deed was dated 29 September 1945, and has been recorded since 1 March 1947.

There was credible evidence that the land was susceptible by its nature and character as a timber farm only. In Derryberry v. Ledford, 506 S.W.2d 152, 157 (Tenn.App.1973), the Court held:

“The land in dispute is unimproved and not under cultivation but the plaintiffs and their predecessors in title have exercised such rights and claims of ownership as they were capable of exercising over land of this nature and character.
It has been held that only such use and occupation of land under claim of ownership as it is susceptible of by its nature and character is necessary for constituting adverse possession or prescription.”

Also see, Moffitt v. Meeks, (1946), 29 Tenn.App. 609, 199 S.W.2d 463; Creech v. Jones, 37 Tenn. 631 (1858).

We hold that there was evidence upon which the jury could find actual possession by Mr. Wiss of the 50-acre tract considering the situation and nature of it, the uses to which it is adapted, and the sort of possession of which it is susceptible. There was no evidence that the appellant or any other person had actual or constructive possession of the land since it was acquired by Mr. Wiss. The evidence supports the finding of the jury that Mr. Wiss was the legal owner of the land by virtue of the presumption under T.C.A. § 28-209.

The appellant next contends that the State failed to prove any of the essential elements of the offense. The crime is defined:

“39-4521. Cutting or removing timber from land of another for purpose of marketing

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Poag v. State
567 S.W.2d 775 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
567 S.W.2d 775, 1978 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 307, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/poag-v-state-tenncrimapp-1978.