State v. Jackson

The court’s charge contained the following:

“If and when it is established that the store has been broken into and entered, and that merchandise has been stolen therefrom, the recent possession of such stolen merchandise raises presumptions of fact that the possessor is guilty of the larceny and of the breaking and entering.”

This was the extent of the charge by the trial court on the doctrine of “recent possession” and this portion of the charge, we think, constituted error. In State v. Holbrook, 223 N.C. 622, 27 S.E. 2d 725, Stacy, C.J., in a thorough discussion of the doctrine of recent…