Barr v. State

65 So. 197, 10 Ala. App. 111, 1914 Ala. App. LEXIS 149
Alabama Court of Appeals·Decided January 22, 1914·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

WALKER, P. J.

As stated in the report of this case on a former appeal (Barr v. State, 7 Ala. App. 96, 61 South. 40), the indictment charged the defendant with the embezzlement of money of the White Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Ohio, which came into his possession by virtue of his employment as agent of said company. It is apparent from the language of the indictment that the offense the commission of which it charges is the one defined by section 6828 of the Code. — Willis v. State, 134 Ala. 429, 33 South. 226. The evidence offered in support of the charge was as to the fraudulent conversion by the de[114] fendant to Ms own nse of money received by Mm on a sale of an automobile wMcb Avas tbe property of the White Company, and Avhich came into the defendant’s possession as a sales agent of that company. In behalf of the appellant it is contended that evidence of such a misappropriation by a bailee of “the proceeds of any property sold by him for another” shows the commission of the offense denounced by section 6831 of the Code, and cannot support an indictment which charges the commission of another offense — one embraced by the terms of section 6828 of the Code. This contention cannot be sustained. If there is evidence of the commission by the defendant of an act which has in it all the elements of the offense charged in the indictment, 'he cannot escape on the ground of a variance between the allegations of the indictment and the evidence offered in support of them, though • the same evidence might have been available in support of another criminal charge against him. The existence of every element of the offense which the indictment in this case charges is shown by evidence to the effect that the defendant, being at the time the agent of the corporation named in the indictment, employed to transact business for it, fraudulently converted to his own use money of that corporation which came into his possession by virtue of his employment. — Eggleston v. State, 129 Ala. 80, 30 South. 582, 87 Am. St. Rep. 17; Washington v. State, 72 Ala. 272; 15 Cyc. 497. Before the statute which constitutes section 6831 of the Code was materially changed by amendment, it was held that an indictment charging the offense defined by section 6828 of the present Code could not be supported by evidence of the fraudulent conversion by the defendant to his own use of property of another of which the defendant had possession as 'bailee, unaccompanied by any authority to act as agent [115] of the bailor, the owner ■ of the property, as such evidence showed only the commission of an offense defined' by the section of the Code of 1896 (3797), which corresponds with section 6831 of the present Code; and it was said, in effect, in reference to the law as it then stood, that a defendant, indicted under one of these sections, could not be convicted on evidence showing his guilt of an offense denounced by the other.- — Pullam v. State, 78 Ala. 31, 56 Am. Rep. 21; Watson v. State, 70 Ala. 13, 15 Am. Rep. 70. It is very questionable whether such a statement can properly be made, since by an amendment of the statute, section 6831 of the Code, makes it a crime for a bailee to embezzle or fraudulently convert to his own use any money or other property “which may have come into his possession by virtue of any bailment for any purpose.” It seems that these Avords bring within the scope of this statute a bailee who is also the authorized agent of the bailor to deal with the subject of the bailment on account of the latter. However that may be, it is plain that a bailee who is such an agent of the bailor is guilty of the offense charged in the indicment in this case if he fraudulently converted to his own use money which came into his possession by virtue of his employment, though that money is the proceeds of property sold by him for another.

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Barr v. State, 65 So. 197, 10 Ala. App. 111, 1914 Ala. App. LEXIS 149 (Ala. Ct. App. 1914).

65 So. 197 (Barr v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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