Commonwealth of Virginia v. Michael W. Taylor

Summary

The Supreme Court of Virginia held that the evidence was sufficient to support Michael W. Taylor's grand larceny conviction and reversed the Court of Appeals' judgment to the contrary. Taylor, a self-employed scrap metal dealer, took eleven tagged trunk-lock dies belonging to Sudhaus of America from Long Manufacturing's shipping and receiving building on the thirtieth day after a foreclosure auction and sold them for scrap; he claimed he mistakenly believed the dies were ones he had purchased at the auction. The court held the fact finder was entitled to credit the testimony of Long's president and a police detective, disbelieve Taylor's account, and infer from his admissions and the marked, segregated location of the dies that he knew they were not his when he took them. The Court of Appeals' judgment was reversed and Taylor's conviction was reinstated as a final judgment.