Robert SOLOMON, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida. Second District.
Jack Champlin of Carlton, Champlin & McCown, Tampa, for appellant.
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., Robert R. Crittenden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lakeland, for appellee.
WHITE, Judge.
Robert Solomon appeals his conviction of grand larceny. It would serve no good purpose to detail the facts of the case. In essence the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to establish the elements of the offense charged, and he also protests several of the trial court's instructions to the jury. A comprehensive review of the record discloses that these contentions are without merit.
It is urged that insufficient weight was given to the testimony of alibi witnesses. The jury, however, is proper judge as to whether the testimony of alibi witnesses raises a reasonable doubt that the accused could have committed the offense. Grizzard v. State, Fla.App. 1962,
Defendant further insists that the evidence as a whole was not sufficient to *493 establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to the exclusion of every other reasonable hypothesis. Although some of the evidence was circumstantial in nature and there were evidentiary conflicts, there was direct evidence of defendant's possession of the subject property and we are of the opinion that the conclusion reached by the jury was within its prerogative. See Grizzard v. State, supra; Hyman v. State, 1943,
It is submitted that the trial court erred in charging the jury that a larcenous intent could be inferred from recent exclusive possession by the defendant. We have examined the entire instruction and find it to be a standard and proper charge on this point. Where possession of stolen property is fairly recent, exclusive and unexplained or unsatisfactorily explained, such circumstances raise a presumption that the possessor was the thief. See Cone v. State, Fla. 1953,
With reference to other instructions to the jury these in the main were attacked merely by "general exception to the instructions * * *". Cf. Ward v. State, 1936,
Affirmed.
ALLEN, Acting C.J., and SMITH, J., concur.
