J. L. REVELS, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, DEFENDANT IN ERROR

Fla. | 1914-10-16
Taylor, Hocker and Whitfield, J. J., concur., Cockrell, J., absent by reason of illness in his family.
68 Fla. 74 Florida Supreme Court (1914) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

J. L. Revels was convicted of breaking and entering a building with intent to commit larceny. The Florida Supreme Court reversed because the trial judge's instructions improperly required the defendant's explanation for possessing recently stolen property to be both 'reasonable' and 'satisfactory' before shifting the burden to the State to prove falsity.


Holding

Yes. The correct rule is that if a defendant found in possession of recently stolen property gives a reasonable and credible account of how he acquired it, or an account raising a reasonable doubt in the jury's minds, then the State must prove that account false; otherwise, there should be an acquittal. The instruction requiring the explanation be 'satisfactory' as well as 'reasonable' was erroneous.


Key Quotes

“An instruction that requires the explanation given by a party found in possession of goods recently stolen, as to how he acquired such possession, to be satisfactory, as well as reasonable, before such explanation shall shift the burden on the State of proving the falsity thereof, is erroneous.”

Establishes the core legal error: requiring explanations to be 'satisfactory' in addition to 'reasonable' is improper.

Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

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Facts & Procedural History

Revels was found in possession of property that had been stolen from a building that was broken into. The trial court instructed the jury that if the …

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Opinion of the Court
Shackeford, C. J.

Shackeford, C. J.

J. L. Revels was convicted of the crime of breaking and entering a certain building with intent to commit larceny, and seeks relief here by writ of error. The first assignment urged before us is based upon the following portion of the charge given by the court:

“The law further is, that property that is in a building that has been broken into and taken out and recently found in the possession of some party after the breaking, and that party at the time did not make some reasonable and satisfactory account of how he came by the property, would warrant a jury in finding a verdict that he was the party that broke and entered the building. The law on the question of stolen property is that if stolen property is found in the possession of a party recently after the commission of a theft, and at the time that he is found with it he does not make some reasonable and satisfactory account of how he came by it, the jury would be warranted in finding him guilty of the theft of it, and if a party is found in the possession of property that was stolen from a building that had been broken and entered and he did not make a reasonable and satisfactory account of how he came by the property at the time that he was so found in possession of it, his failure to make such reasonable and satisfactory account would warrant the jury in finding him guilty. If the explanation that he makes is reason-, able and satisfactory, why then the jury should not find him guilty, and it is a question of fact as to whether or not he was first found in possession of the property; and, second whether or not he made a reasonable and satisfactory account. To determine this question you must do it from all the evidence.”

We are of the opinion that this error is well assigned. In Bellamy v. State, 35 Fla. 242, 17 South. Rep. 560, we held as follows: “An instruction that requires the explanation given by a party found in possession of goods recently stolen, as to how he acquired such possession, to be satisfactory, as well as reasonable, before such explanation shall shift the burden on the State of proving the falsity thereof, is erroneous. The correct rule is, that where a party is found in possession of goods recently stolen and directly gives a reasonable and credible account of how he came into such posséssion, or such an account as will raise a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury, who are the sole judges of its-reasonableness, probability and credibility, then it becomes the duty of the State to prove that such account is false, otherwise there should be an acquittal.” See also Leslie v. State, 35 Fla. 171, 17 South. Rep. 555; Williams v. State, 40 Fla. 480, 25 South. Rep. 143, 74 Am. St. Rep. 154; Collier v. State, 55 Fla. 7, 45 South. Rep. 752; McDonald v. State, 56 Fla. 74, 47 South. Rep. 485; Bass v. State, 58 Fla. 1, 50 South. Rep. 531.

Another assignment is based upon the following portion of the charge given by the court:

“If you find from all the evidence in this case, first that this house was broken into and the property stolen, and very recently thereafter this defendant was found in the possession of the property so stolen from the building, and he did not at the time make some reasonable and satisfactory account of how he came by it, his failure to do so would warrant the jury in finding him guilty of breaking and entering. If you find that he was in possession of this property recently after the house had been broken, and the property stolen therefrom, and if he has made a reasonable account of how he came by it, why, you should find him not guilty. You must determine that fact from all the evidence.”

We think that this error is also well assigned for the reasons pointed out in the cited cases.

It follows that the judgment must be reversed and a new trial awarded.

Taylor, Hocker and Whitfield, J. J., concur. Cockrell, J., absent by reason of illness in his family.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Tidwell v. State, 143 Fla. 397 (Fla. 1940)
    …spicious to put a person [*401] of ordinary intelligence and caution on inquiry. Broxson v. State, 99 Fla. 1187, 128 So. 628. See Winton v. State, 87 Fla. 104, 99 So. 249; Franklin v. State, 66 Fla. 213, 63 So. 418.” In the case of Revels v. State, 68 Fla. 74, 66 So. 422, it was said: "In Bellamy v. State, 35 Fla. 242, 17 South. Rep. 560, we held as follows: ‘An instruction that requires the explanation given by a party found in possession of goods recently stolen, as to how he acquired such possession,…
  • Lawson v. State, 125 Fla. 335 (Fla. 1936)
    …be given to the accused, and a verdict of acquittal returned in his favor where such reasonable doubt is found by the jury to arise out of the proven circumstances. Such is the rule with reference to the substantive larceny itself (Revels v. State, 68 Fla. 74, 66 Sou. Rep. 422) and no less a favorable consideration must be given a reasonable doubt of kindred character when arising in a case of alleged unlawful receiving of goods stolen. The effect of the language of the court’s charge objected to by the…
  • Miller v. State, 76 Fla. 518 (Fla. 1918)
    …ge on the subject, and not portions of it only, should be considered. Barton v. State, 72 Fla. 408, 73 South. Rep. 230; Disney v. State, 72 Fla. 492, 73 South. Rep. 598. That the charge given states a correct proposition of law. See Revels v. State, 68 Fla. 74, 66 South. Rep. 422; McDonald v. State, 56 Fla. 74, 47 South. Rep. 485; Collier v. State, 55 Fla. 7, 45 South. Rep. 752. The charge refused and the charge given are on the same subject, and the charge given covers the precise point covered by the c…

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