Johnson v. State

The restitution order requiring the defendant to pay the victim for the value of stolen personal property and damage to the victim's house was not supported by the evidence.

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Michael Keith Johnson appeals from the judgment of conviction entered on jury verdicts finding him guilty of burglary and felony theft-by-taking, and from the trial court’s order of restitution to the victim. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of conviction; vacate the restitution order; and remand for a new hearing on restitution. 1. Johnson claims the evidence was insufficient to support the guilty verdicts.

The State produced evidence that an unoccupied, family-owned farm house in Cobb County was entered by force and burglarized. The owner charged with maintaining and securing the property testified that, during her daily check of the house on November 29, 2009, she discovered that the house had been broken into through a door; that items of personal property —a Buck wood-burning stove, a Jenn-Air stove, a vacuum cleaner, a rug, and copper pipe —valued in excess of $500.00 had been stolen from the house; and that the house had been extensively damaged as a result of the copper water pipes being cut out of the walls and from under the house. As a result of the cut water pipe, the house basement was flooded, and the owner hired a company to pump out the water. An employee of the company testified that he found a wallet in the basement which was given to police investigating the burglary. The wallet contained Johnson’s driver’s license and other personal papers including a document identifying Johnson as a customer of Marietta Recycling, a business that buys scrap metal. An employee of Marietta Recycling testified that on November 30, 2009, the day after the burglary, Johnson sold them 108 pounds of copper pipe of the type used as water piping in houses. As similar transaction evidence, the State produced evidence that in 2005 Johnson plead guilty to the burglary of an unoccupied house where there was forced entry through a door and items of personal property were stolen from the house. The owner of the present house testified that she did not know Johnson and that he did not have permission to enter the house.

Johnson v. State

The restitution order requiring the defendant to pay the victim for the value of stolen personal property and damage to the victim's house was not supported by the evidence.

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