PEOPLE OF MI V CHRISTOPHER CHARLES LAVOY
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
January 7, 2000
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 212082
Ingham Circuit Court
LC No. 97-072700 FH
CHRISTOPHER CHARLES LAVOY,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Talbot, P.J., and Gribbs and Meter, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Defendant appeals by right from his conviction by a jury of breaking and entering a building with
the intent to commit larceny, MCL 750.110; MSA 28.305. The trial court, applying a fourth-offense
habitual offender enhancement under MCL 769.12; MSA 28.1084, sentenced him to ten to twenty-five
years in prison. We affirm.
Defendant first argues that the prosecution presented insufficient evidence to support his
conviction. In evaluating a claim of insufficient evidence, this Court views the evidence in the light most
favorable to the prosecution and determines whether a rational trier of fact could have found that the
essential elements of the crime were proven beyond a reasonable doubt. People v Johnson, 460 Mich
720, 722-723; 597 NW2d 73 (1999).
The elements of breaking and entering a building with the intent to commit larceny are: “(1) the
defendant broke into a building, (2) the defendant entered the building, and (3) at the time of the
breaking and entering, the defendant intended to commit a larceny therein.” People v Toole, 227 Mich
App 656, 658; 576 NW2d 441 (1998). “Larceny is the taking and carrying away of the property of
another, done with felonious intent and without the owner’s consent.” People v Gimotty, 216 Mich
App 254, 257-258; 549 NW2d 39 (1996).
Here, the evidence at trial showed the following: (1) a vending machine company located near a
set of railroad tracks in Lansing was broken into and ransacked; (2) money and various items of
personal property were missing from the business; (3) many of the missing items, as well as money in
similar denominations to that missing from the business, were found in defendant’s house; (4) defendant
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was away from home on the night the break-in occurred; (5) prior to the incident, defendant asked to
borrow a U-Haul truck from his sister-in-law; (6) the truck was taken from defendant’s sister-in-law
and was later found, abandoned, with items belonging to the vending machine company; (7) two
footprints found at the scene of the break-in exactly matched a pair of shoes found in defendant’s
bedroom; (8) another footprint found at the scene was consistent with an additional pair of shoes found
in defendant’s bedroom; and (9) defendant told the police that he had broken into a vending machine
company located near some railroad tracks in Lansing.
Viewing this evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, Johnson, supra at 722
723, a rational trier of fact could have found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant broke into and
entered the vending machine company with the intent to commit larceny. See Toole, supra at 658.
Although the evidence of defendant’s guilt was largely circumstantial, circumstantial evidence and
accompanying reasonable inferences may constitute satisfactory proof of the elements of a crime. See
People v Carines, 460 Mich 750, 757; 597 NW2d 130 (1999). Moreover, the police found the stolen
property in defendant’s house three days after the break-in, and “the possession of recently-stolen
property permits an inference that the possessor committed the theft.” People v Miller, 141 Mich App
637, 641; 367 NW2d 892 (1985). Finally, even though defendant denied telling the police that he
committed a break-in at a vending machine company in Lansing, it is up to the jury, not this Court, to
weigh credibility conflicts. See People v Wolfe, 440 Mich 508, 514; 489 NW2d 478, amended on
other grounds 441 Mich 1201 (1992). Accordingly, there was sufficient evidence to support
defendant’s conviction, and he is not entitled to relief on this issue.
Next, defendant argues that the trial court violated his right to call witnesses on his own behalf
when the court refused to grant a continuance so that defendant could call Ohio police officer Alan
Word for impeachment purposes. Defendant claimed that Word’s testimony at the preliminary
examination indicated that Word was unsure whether the break-in about which defendant spoke to the
police occurred in Lansing. Defendant believed that Word would reiterate this testimony if called at trial
and would thereby contradict the trial testimony of Officer Mark Clark, who testified, without hesitation,
that the break-in about which defendant spoke occurred in Lansing.
We review a trial court’s ruling on evidentiary matters, including a defendant’s request to secure
an out-of-state witness, for an abuse of discretion. People v Ullah, 216 Mich App 669, 673; 550
NW2d 568 (1996); People v McFall, 224 Mich App 403, 409; 569 NW2d 828 (1997). An abuse
of discretion exists where an unprejudiced person, considering the facts available to the trial court, could
find no justification for the court’s ruling. Ullah, supra at 673.
We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s conclusion that Word’s testimony would have
been cumulative and was therefore unnecessary under MRE 403. During the preliminary examination,
Word testified that he “believe[d]” the vending machine company that defendant admitting breaking into
was located in Lansing, and he gave no indication that the break-in occurred in a different city.
Contrary to defendant’s argument, Word’s mere use of the word “believe” was insufficient to imply that
the break-in occurred in a city other than Lansing. Thus, Word’s statement, if introduced at trial, would
not have contradicted Clark’s testimony that the break-in occurred in Lansing. Instead, the statement
would merely have reiterated Clark’s testimony, and the trial court therefore did not abuse its discretion
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by refusing defendant’s request to obtain Word’s testimony. See MRE 403. See also United States v
Valenzuela-Bernal, 458 US 858, 867; 102 S Ct 3440; 73 L Ed 2d 1193 (1982) (a defendant’s right
to call witnesses on his own behalf is not violated if he fails to demonstrate that the testimony of the
desired witness would be material and favorable to his defense).
Affirmed.
/s/ Michael J. Talbot
/s/ Roman S. Gribbs
/s/ Patrick M. Meter
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