State v. Burns
Annotate this CaseTimothy Burns was convicted of theft of unauthorized taking, a Class C offense, following a jury trial. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence, holding (1) because the jury could not have rationally found from the evidence that Burns was guilty of theft of property with a value of less than $1000 and because a theft by unauthorized taking is a Class C offense when the property stolen is valued between $1000 and $10,000, the court's failure to instruct the jury concerning the amount necessary to elevate a theft to a Class C offense was harmless; (2) the evidence was sufficient to establish Burns' guilt beyond a reasonable doubt because the jury rationally could have found from the evidence presented at trial that Burns was guilty of the theft of the check involved in this case, and the jury could only have found that the amount stolen was the amount of the check; and (3) the superior court did not err by sentencing Burns to twenty-two months' incarceration.
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