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Reedman v. State12/19/2003
A Fulton County jury found David Reedman guilty of theft by receiving a stolen auto, OCGA § 16-8-7. He appeals pro se, raising seventeen enumerations of error, including the general grounds. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.
When a criminal defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his or her conviction, "the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." (Citation omitted; emphasis in original). Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 318-319 (III) (B) (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). The jury, not this Court, resolves conflicts in the testimony, weighs the evidence, and draws reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. Id. "As long as there is some competent evidence, even though contradicted, to support each fact necessary to make out the State's case, the jury's verdict will be upheld." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Miller v. State, 273 Ga. 831, 832 (546 SE2d 524) (2001). Viewed in this light, the record reveals the following facts.
During the early morning of October 4, 2001, police officers observed a car speeding on Roswell Road in Fulton County. When one of the officers attempted a traffic stop, the driver sped away. The officers pursued the driver down a dead end street where he stopped, jumped out of the car, and fled on foot. The officers caught the driver, David Reedman, whom they positively identified at trial.
The car Reedman was driving had been reported stolen a week earlier by it's owner. The owner testified that her car had been stolen from her driveway during the night. When she reclaimed her car, it was a mess -it was full of trash, disposable toiletry items, and clothes - and "looked like someone had been living in it." The owner also discovered an unfamiliar set of car keys that "looked like dealership keys." The owner's insurer considered the car a total loss because the thief had ruined the car's transmission and axle.
The State also introduced similar transaction evidence establishing that Reedman was previously convicted of possessing cars that were stolen from their owners' homes during the night. In those cases, he had either attempted to elude arrest or to deceive his arresting officers as to his right to possess the cars. Reedman left trash and clothes in the cars, wrecked one, and had obtained keys to fit others.
Reedman testified in his own defense, explaining that he fled from his arresting officers because he believed he was in "another harassment situation." Although he admitted driving the car and fleeing, he refused to answer any of the prosecutor's questions about how he came to be in possession of the car on the ground his answers would incriminate himself. Even after the court instructed him to answer, Reedman continued to refuse to participate in cross-examination.
1. Reedman challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, contending there is no evidence that he knew, or should have known, that the car was stolen.
(a) OCGA § 16-8-7 (a) provides that a person "commits the offense of theft by receiving stolen property when he receives, disposes of, or retains stolen property which he knows or should know was stolen unless the property is received, disposed of, or retained with intent to restore it to the owner." Knowledge that the car was stolen is an essential element of the crime of theft by receiving. Harris v. State, 239 Ga. App. 723, 724 (521 SE2d 864) (1999). The jury may infer that knowledge "from circumstances which would excite suspicion in the mind of an ordinary prudent
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