People v. Mikolajewski

The legislature has recognized that owners of stolen property should be able to recover their property without delay. A statute permits the use of photographs in place of the stolen item in a prosecution for certain offenses. This case requires us to examine that statute and the impact it had on this jury trial.

On February 5, 1992, the defendant Thaddeus Mikolajewski (a/ k/a Edward Kazmierski) was arrested with Stanley Romanowski and Joseph Nickels for the crime of felony retail theft. The defendant was tried alone. After conviction, he was sentenced to a prison term of three years, to run…