People v. Farrell

While driving his car in Chicago on July 21,1977, defendant, Henry Farrell, saw a man riding a familiar-looking bicycle. It had a small indentation on the frame, similar to a mark on Farrell’s bicycle of the same make and model which had been stolen a year before. Farrell, thinking that this was his bicycle, stopped and confronted the rider, Gerald Toman.

Farrell grabbed Toman’s handlebars and brought the bicycle to a halt. Both straddled the bicycle as they talked. Farrell said it was his, while Toman insisted that he had bought the bicycle for $20 from a friend 14 months before. Farrell…