Walter E. De Binder v. United States

WASHINGTON, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was convicted of housebreaking and larceny, after jury trial, in the District Court, D.C.Code §§ 22-1801, 22-2201 (1951). He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, and appealed.

The case for the prosecution rested principally upon the testimony of the complaining witness. Her testimony at trial identifying appellant as the nocturnal intruder in her daughter’s apartment was definite and unequivocal, but it was the only eye-witness testimony offered, and virtually the only evidence directly linking the defendant-appellant to the crime.

The theft occurred in…