67 Iowa 564 | Iowa | 1885
I. On the night of the seventh of August, 1883, the jewelry store of J. W. Smith, at Union, Hardin county, was broken into and entered, and money, jewelry and watches, of the value of about $700, were stolen therefrom. The defendant, Peterson, and one Maurice and one Stephens were arrested about three days after the crime was committed, at Moline, Illinois, with nearly all of the stolen property in their possession. They were brought to Hardin county and jointly indicted for the crime. They demanded sepai'ate trials, and the defendant, Peterson, was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for ten years. There was no direct evidence that the three persons named stole the money and property. The evidence shows, however, that they were traveling about the country together for a month or more preceding the time of the larceny. They were at Union, at Marshalltown, at Grundy Center, and at other places. They had no occupation or business. They each passed under one name at one place and another name at another place. When they traveled, they usually adopted that inexpensive mode of conveyance known as free rides on freight trains. They were at Marshalltown on the evening before the crime was committed, which place is some twenty miles by rail from Union, and there was a train from the former place to the latter early in the night. When arrested at Moline they pretended not to be acquainted with each other. They stopped at a hotel, and the defendant, Peterson, delivered a satchel, which contained most of the stolen goods, to the hotel clerk. After he was arrested he denied being the owner of the satchel. These facts are not disputed. The defendant, Peterson, tes
In the case of State v. Richart, 57 Iowa, 245, it was held that an instruction that the presumption arising from the possession of property recently stolen must be overcome by a preponderance of evidence was erroneous, and that case was followed in State v. Hopkins, 65 Iowa, 240. The true rule, as stated in those cases, is that it is sufficient to acquit if the evidence is such as to raise a reasonable doubt whether the defendant honestly came into the possession of the stolen goods. This instruction is unlike the instructions which were disapproved in the two cases above cited. It is true that in one clause it is stated that it is only necessary to explain the' possession by a preponderance of the evidence, but this is immediately followed by what may be regarded as explanatory of what is meant by a preponderance of the evidence; that is, that it is sufficient to acquit if the evidence leaves it “ reasonably doubtful whether he acquired the possession by theft.” Taking the whole instruction together, we think it is in substantial accord with the rule announced by this court in the cited cases.
■ We bave passed upon everything in this record which appears to us to demand consideration, and our conclusion is that tbe judgment should be
Affirmed.