Henan Legal Daily reporter Yin Zhidan correspondent Tian Weimin Liu Wansheng.
Basic facts of the case
In the early morning of July 4, 2021, when defendant Zhao was surfing the Internet at an Internet café in Lingbao City, he took advantage of the inattention of Liu, who was also surfing the Internet at the Internet café, to take away a mobile phone of a certain brand that Liu had placed on the computer table of the Internet café, and went to the toilet of the Internet café to turn off the mobile phone, and then left the Internet café and took possession of the mobile phone for himself. On July 7, 2021, the defendant Zhao was arrested, and then the public security organs found the mobile phone involved in the case from his rented house and returned the mobile phone to Liu. It was determined that the value of the stolen mobile phone was 1,600 yuan.
Verdict
During the trial of the case, the defendant Zhao began to argue that the mobile phone was picked up by himself, not stolen. In the face of the ascertained facts, after the judge patiently popularized the law, the defendant Zhao finally realized that his actions had constituted the crime of theft, and pleaded guilty and accepted punishment in court.
The Lingbao City Court finally made the following judgment: The defendant Zhao secretly stole other people's property for the purpose of illegal possession, and the amount was relatively large, and his behavior constituted the crime of theft and should be punished. Defendant Zhao X has a criminal record, and may be given a heavier punishment as appropriate. Defendant Zhao X is able to truthfully confess his crime after being brought into the case, and may be given a lighter punishment;The stolen mobile phone can be returned to the victim, and the punishment may be mitigated as appropriate;Where the defendant admits guilt and accepts punishment in court, he may be given a lenient disposition in accordance with law. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, Zhao was sentenced to 6 months in prison and fined 2,000 yuan for theft.
What the judge said
The focus of the dispute in this case is whether Zhao's actions were theft or embezzlement. The crime of embezzlement refers to the illegal possession of another person's property, forgotten property, or buried property for the purpose of illegal possession, and the amount is relatively large, and refuses to return it. According to Zhao's initial statement, he "picked up" a mobile phone, which should constitute the crime of embezzlement. However, according to the facts of the case, Liu put his mobile phone on the table when surfing the Internet, and although the mobile phone was close to the location where Zhao was sitting, Liu did not lose control of the mobile phone, and the mobile phone was not "lost" or "forgotten" by Liu. Therefore, Zhao's statement that he "picked up" the mobile phone is not valid. Because he had a criminal record and the amount of theft had reached the criterion for a crime, the court finally found that he had committed theft. ⑮