37 Tex. 202 | Tex. | 1873
The first clause of the charge of the court in this case, is in these words: “ Property recently stolen being found
Easter Waggoner, on the last day of December, or first day of January, had taken from her house, by some person unknown to her, a feather bed and some bed-clothing, and, on the first of June following, the deputy sheriff found the missing articles in appellant’s house. Five months had elapsed since the property had been missed from the house of the owner, before it was found in the possession of the appellant, and it may have changed hands several times during that period; and we cannot subscribe to the doctrine laid down by the court, that the possession of this property, admitting it to have been stolen, was so recent after the theft as to raise the legal presumption that the party in possession is the thief. It was a circumstance which might very properly have been submitted to the jury, in connection with other evidence of guilt; but we .do not think this evidence of possession, alone, sufficient to warrant a conviction, and yet the charge of the court would appear to give it that degree of importance.
Possession of stolen property, however remote from the date of the theft, may be said to raise a presumption of a guilty possession; but that presumption must necessarily greatly diminish as time elapses, until it becomes so slight as to hardly make an impression upon a reflecting mind.
Mr. Bishop, after reviewing many decisions on this question, seems to come to the conclusion that the simple possession of stolen goods, however recent after the theft, does not raise a sufficiently strong presumption of guilt to warrant a conviction for that crime. But he says there are nearly always other circumstances and evidence attending that possession, such as the character of the party, the explanation given or refused, or attempts at concealment, which may greatly increase or diminish the presumption raised by the possession.
The judgment of the District Court is therefore reversed, and the cause remanded.
Beversed and remanded.