State v. Hart

Defendant appeals a Custer County District Court conviction, by a jury, of theft by accountability, for which she received a five-year sentence and was ordered to make partial restitution.

Three women entered Mann Credit Jewelers in Miles City, Montana, on the afternoon of May 24, 1979. The only employee in the store at the time was a clerk, June Carranza. Carranza testified that the three women came into the store at about the same time but then separated. Two of the women, who associated openly and were clearly together, asked the clerk to show them some rings in a display cabinet. The third…