The Massachusetts Appeals Court today reversed a Falmouth man's conviction for breaking and entering, saying the fact that a taped up ID card in his name was found at the scene was not enough to find him guilty.
The court said prosecutors failed to provide any other real evidence beyond the presence of the card that Ronald Renaud was responsible for the theft of four plasma TVs, a DVD player and sports memorabilia and that without that, they failed to show the man actually burgled the house:
[W]hile there may be evidence that Renaud possessed his EBT card at some point prior to the crime, the Commonwealth has presented no evidence that Renaud possessed, and subsequently dropped, his EBT card during the crime.
After the card was discovered, a detective called Renaud, said police had found his card by the side of the road and asked him to stop by to pick it up. Prosecutors said the fact that Renaud did not do so was also proof of his "consciousness of guilt" - why else would he decline to do so? The court, however, said that argument was "unpersuasive."
Renaud denied ever having entered the house. After the trial, he said he had last seen the card - torn into three pieces - on top of his refrigerator and that he had no idea how it had gotten into the house.
