State v. Wolfe

277 S.E.2d 640, 166 W. Va. 815, 1981 W. Va. LEXIS 613
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedMay 5, 1981
DocketNo. 14280
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 277 S.E.2d 640 (State v. Wolfe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Wolfe, 277 S.E.2d 640, 166 W. Va. 815, 1981 W. Va. LEXIS 613 (W. Va. 1981).

Opinion

Per Curiam:

This is an appeal by Charles Jackson Wolfe from his conviction of grand larceny in the Circuit Court of Tucker [816]*816County and his subsequent sentence of one to ten years in the West Virginia State Penitentiary. Three errors by the trial court are alleged, but we reverse solely on the basis that appellant is entitled to a new trial because of newly-discovered impeachment evidence showing that the State’s key witness gave testimony in a subsequent Grant County trial which was materially different from testimony he gave against appellant in Tucker County.

The appellant and David W. Milton, Jr. were jointly indicted in Tucker County for the theft of a “tar coated metal drain tile.” The tile, also referred to as a culvert pipe, was valued at $200.00 and was allegedly stolen from strip mine property belonging to Douglas Coal Company. The appellant and Milton were also jointly indicted in Grant County for the grand larceny of other property allegedly taken from the same strip mine property, but from a portion of the land located on the Grant County side of the county line.

At appellant’s trial in Tucker County on March 9, 1977, he did not deny the taking of the culvert pipe but contended that Milton had hired him to haul various pieces of junk that Milton said he owned. Milton testified that the appellant hired him to haul junk, and that he had never been in the junk business prior to being employed by the appellant. Both Milton and appellant testified that they had agreed to haul junk in appellant’s truck and split the proceeds after paying expenses. One Terry Vance testified that Milton had asked him to drive him to appellant’s business to see if he could get appellant to haul Milton’s junk. Vance also testified that Milton directed him and the appellant to the strip mine site in question and that he worked with the two of them on several additional trips. A second witness, Henry Aronhalt, testified that he met Milton at the appellant’s restaurant and that he showed Milton how to use a cutting torch at a strip mine site to which Milton directed him and the appellant. On March 10, 1977, the jury found appellant guilty of grand larceny.

Subsequently, on June 1, 1977, the appellant went to trial in Grant County for the grand larceny of a “black picking table” from the strip mine site. David Milton again testified as the State’s key witness, but at this second trial admitted [817]*817that he had been employed in the junk business prior to the time he met appellant. At the conclusion of the Grant County trial, the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

On November 23, 1977, appellant filed a motion for a new trial in the Circuit Court of Tucker County based in part on the newly-discovered evidence of David Milton’s testimony in the Grant County trial. On November 28, 1977, a hearing on the motion for new trial was held and the court entered an order denying the motion. It is from this order that appellant appeals.

The sole issue which we address in this opinion is whether the trial court erred in refusing to grant appellant’s motion for a new trial in Tucker County on the basis of David Milton’s testimony against the appellant in the Grant County trial.

Milton’s testimony at appellant’s Tucker County trial was that he had never been involved in the junk business prior to working with the appellant; that he had no knowledge of the junk business; and that he had not been employed prior to his business arrangement with the appellant. At the Grant County trial, Milton testified that he had been employed by a junk dealer for several months in Davis, West Virginia, before he met and began working with appellant, and that he had hauled junk in connection with this employment.

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Related

State v. Martin
356 S.E.2d 629 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
277 S.E.2d 640, 166 W. Va. 815, 1981 W. Va. LEXIS 613, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wolfe-wva-1981.