Commonwealth v. Dock

Opinion by

Hirt, J.,

Defendant was convicted of larceny, and of assault and battery, charged in separate indictments but tried by the same jury with the defendant’s consent. Judgments were entered on the verdicts and defendant was sentenced on each.

The conviction in the larceny case rests upon the inferences to be drawn from defendant’s possession of stolen property. Possession of recently stolen property is evidence that the possessor is the thief but it does not raise a legal presumption of guilt and no burden is shifted to the defendant to account for his possession, at his peril. The burden…