United States v. Martin

Terry Martin and John Emerson (defendants) were prosecuted for burglarizing and attempting to burglarize two drug stores. As to the completed New Hope burglary, several store employees testified they saw Martin and Emerson case the store the day before, corroborating a police informant's identification of the two as the burglars. As to the attempted Frazee burglary, a police chief briefly detained Martin — driving with Emerson as a passenger — after seeing him test the store's lock, and noticed Martin wearing a "booster coat" commonly used to conceal stolen goods and tools associated with burglary in the car; after learning the car was stolen, police obtained warrants that turned up burglary tools and stolen narcotics in the car and in Emerson's house. The jury convicted both men on both counts, and Emerson appealed the sufficiency of the evidence.