Summary 2010 WY 42

Summary of Decision issued April 8, 2010

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Case Name: Eres v. State

Citation: 2010 WY 42

Docket Number: S-08-0251

Appeal from the District Court of Laramie County, the Honorable Michael K. Davis, Judge.

Representing Appellant Eres: Diane Lozano, State Public Defender; Tina Kerin, Appellate Counsel; Eric M. Alden, Senior Assistant Public Defender; Wyoming Public Defender Program.

Representing Appellee State: Bruce A. Salzburg, Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Eric Johnson, Faculty Director, Eric K. Thompson, Student Director, and Ryan W. Podlesnik, Student Intern, of the Prosecution Assistance Program.

Facts/Discussion: Eres appealed his felony conviction for receiving stolen property, asserting claims of instructional error and evidentiary insufficiency.

Jury instruction: Eres and the State dispute whether the district court erred in instructing the jury to determine the value of the stolen property at the time of its original theft. A review of the record showed that the timing of the valuation of the stolen property was not an issue under the facts of the case. Even assuming the district court misstated the law governing the valuation element, the court was unable to conclude that the error mandated reversal. Because of the lack of evidence of competing valuations, the Court was convinced there was no possibility that the jury verdict would have been different under the instruction requested by Eres.
Sufficiency of the evidence: Eres claimed the trial evidence was insufficient to establish the stolen property in question had a market value in excess of $1,000. The victim, Gonzales, provided specific testimony about the purchase price and the dates he had purchased them. The jury was instructed to consider the purchase price in assessing the market value of the property. Viewing the evidence as a whole, the Court had no trouble concluding the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the value of the stolen property exceeded $1,000.

Conclusion: Lack of evidence of competing valuations convinced the Court there was no possibility the jury verdict would have been different under the instruction proposed by Eres. The Court found ample evidence to sustain Eres’ conviction.

Affirmed.

J. Golden delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yg93r3s .

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