Minor v. State

Appellant Eugene Minor was convicted in the Circuit Court of Lafayette County of grand larceny, for the theft of a Tower brand lumber edger, and was sentenced to three years in the state penitentiary. The State relies on the presumption arising from possession of recently stolen property. The question is whether the jury was warranted in finding, on circumstantial evidence alone, that the defendant’s guilt was shown beyond a reasonable doubt and to the exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis. We think the State failed to meet its required burden of proof.

A lumber edger is a machine used in…