Pope v. State

Deen, Presiding Judge.

“What’s in a name?” inquired Shakespeare’s most celebrated heroine; and appellant Napoleon Elijah Pope may well be asking the same question. With four felony convictions already to his credit, appellant, bearer of names rich in connotations of temporal and spiritual power and glory, was found guilty on a charge of theft by taking and sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment.

The evidence adduced at Pope’s trial showed that two black males — one of them appellant, according to eyewitness testimony — were observed entering and driving away in a late-model yellow Cadillac…