Bivins v. State

170 S.E. 513, 47 Ga. App. 391, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 415
Court of Appeals of Georgia·Decided August 3, 1933·No. 22758·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinions

Guerry, J.

Only the second headnote needs any elaboration. The main question to be determined in this case is whether or not the overruling of the special demurrer to the indictment requires a reversal of the judgment. The indictment charges that the defendant did embezzle, etc., certain “monies, funds, securities and credits,” belonging to the named bank. The special demurrer contends that the indictment does not describe with sufficient particu[392] larity the funds, securities, and credits, nor their value. With reference to the description of money, an indictment for embezzlement need only allege the amount of monejr, and the value thereof. This means any money coming into the defendant’s hands by and through his position of trust, irrespective of the manner of its proof, whether by false entries, concealment, etc. Such a general allegation in an indictment is, as to money, good as matter for a plea in bar to a subsequent prosecution based on such facts as might have been included under the general allegation as to the embezzlement of money. The rulings are, therefore, that the description should be such as, in connection with the indictment, will affirmatively declare the defendant guilty and will reasonably inform him of the particular instance meant and put him in a position to make the needful preparation to meet the charge at the trial. A general allegation that the defendant had embezzled funds would be sufficient. The term fund or funds is generic and all-embracing as compared with the term money, etc., which is specific. The indictment in this case, which names the amount embezzled as money and its value, is sufficient. See Jackson v. State, 76 Ga. 551. An indictment which alleges the embezzlement of the funds of a bank without particularizing as to what “'assets” of the bank made up those funds would be an insufficient description as to such funds. A further particularizing, alleging that such funds consisted of money, is a sufficient description of that particular class of funds. May it also be said that an indictment which alleges that a defendant embezzled, in addition to money, securities and credits, is also sufficient where there is a special demurrer on the ground “that the indictment does not allege what securities are referred to, nor the kind and character of credits, so as to put the defendant on notice of the crime charged against him.” We think such an allegation is vulnerable to such a demurrer. Money, as was said in the Jackson case, supra, stands on a different footing, and to require more particularity in the charge with reference to money would defeat the law. Any allegation as to funds, securities, or credits which is sufficient to put the defendant on .notice as to the transaction or transactions referred to will be sufficient. Funds, securities, and credits may be more readily described or particularized than money. In Johnson v. State, 166 Ga. 755 (144 S. E. 283), it was held to be error to charge “that there must have been an embezzling . . [393] of money, notes, or checks, or funds, or assets of the bank, before you would be authorized to convict the defendant,” where the indictment charged only money and funds. Notes and checks were not sufficient probata to conform to the allegata. In Hudson v. State, 93 W. Va. 435 (117 S. E. 122), it was said: “But an indictment for embezzlement of funds or credits of a State bank under a statute should describe the funds and credits embezzled or show a proper excuse for such lack of description.”

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Bivins v. State, 170 S.E. 513, 47 Ga. App. 391, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 415 (Ga. Ct. App. 1933).

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