Bowen v. State

128 N.E. 926, 189 Ind. 644, 1920 Ind. LEXIS 69
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 30, 1920
DocketNo. 23,097
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 128 N.E. 926 (Bowen v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bowen v. State, 128 N.E. 926, 189 Ind. 644, 1920 Ind. LEXIS 69 (Ind. 1920).

Opinion

Ewbank, J.

The indictment on which appellant was convicted consisted of. two counts, to each of which separately he addressed a motion to quash for alleged insufficiency of facts to constitute a public offense and uncertainty, which motion was overruled as to each, and appellant excepted.

The cause was submitted to the jury on instructions which expressly stated that the second count charged the offense of embezzlement, under §2285 Burns 1914, Acts 1905 p. 584, §392, and set out that section of the statute at length. The jury returned a verdict which stated thht the jury “finds the defendant guilty of embezzlement, as charged in the second count of the indictment” but contained no finding on the first count.

Said first count charged that the appellant did [648]*648“feloniously take, steal and carry away” $2,700, lawful money, the property of the Hamilton Trust Company.

The second count, omitting the title, was as follows: “Count II. The aforesaid grand jurors on their aforesaid oaths further present that one George Bowen late of said county on or about the 15th day of January, 1915, at said county and State aforesaid, was then and there a director, agent and employe of the Hamilton Trust Company, a corporation organized and doing business under the laws of the State of Indiana, at Noblesville, Indiana, and the said George Bowen by virtue of said employment as a director, agent and employe did then and there have control and possession of twenty-seven hundred dollars in money, to the control and possession of which said The Hamilton Trust Company was then and there entitled, which said money was then and there the property of said The Hamilton Trust Company and of the value of twenty-seven hundred dollars and to the control, possession and ownership of which the said The Hamilton Trust Company was then and there entitled, and the said George Bowen did then and the're feloniously and fraudulently take, purloin, steal, secrete and appropriate to his own use the money aforesaid, contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana. ’ ’

1. Except for the use of the word ‘ ‘ steal” in the charging clause said second count of the indictment is substantially the same as others which have more than once been held sufficient by this court as against motions to quash for insufficiency of facts and uncertainty, the averment that [649]*649defendant had control and possession of his employers’ money “by virtue of his employment,” being regarded as the allegation of the fact that he held rightful possession of it in a trust capacity. State v. Nugent (1914), 182 Ind. 200, 106 N. E. 361; Frost v. State (1912), 178 Ind. 305, 99 N. E. 419.

2. The averment that appellant was the “agent and employe” of the Hamilton Trust Company was not made insufficient by the further charge that he was a “director.” There.is no law forbidding a director also to be an employe and agent of such a corporation.

3. But it is urged that the averment that, being the agent and employe of said company, in possession by virtue of his employment of a sum of money owned by his employer, the appellant “did then and there feloniously and fraudulently take, purloin, steal, secrete and appropriate to his own use the money aforesaid,” amounts to a charge of larceny as well as embezzlement. And it is therefore insisted that the count is bad for uncertainty and duplicity, in that it does not inform the defendant with what crime he is charged.

If the averment that appellant had control and possession of the money alleged to have been taken “by virtue of said employment as director, agent and employe” constitutes the averment of a fact showing' that he held possession of it in a trust relation, then it states a fact showing that the alleged taking could not have been larceny. An essential element of the crime of larceny is a trespass in taking. money or property from the possession of the owner without right. And if the employe bona fide received the possession, and held posession by right, [650]*650for the master’s use and benefit, at the time of the taking or appropriation, the taking could not be larceny, because it would lack the essential element of a trespass. Colip v. State, (1899), 153 Ind. 584, 55 N. E. 739, 74 Am. St. 322; Vinnedge v. State (1906), 167 Ind. 415, 79 N. E. 353; Frost v. State, supra. Having stated facts showing that the alleged taking constituted embezzlement and did not constitute larceny, the use of the word “steal” in connection with the charge that appellant did “feloniously * * * take, purloin, * * * secrete and appropriate to his own use ’ ’ the money in question must be regarded as surplusage. And while the introduction of surplusage into an indictment might constitute a material error, if it were of a prejudicial character, it clearly appears that, so far as the count in question is concerned, the appellant was tried thereon only for embezzlement, that the jury was expressly instructed that it charged only the crime.of embezzlement, and that the statute defining that offense was recited in full in an instruction, with the statement that it covered the offense charged in the second count, and the verdict recited that appellant was found guilty of embezzlement, as charged in said count. The use of such surplusage in the second count of the indictment,' in charging that the money was feloniously taken, was harmless, and the overruling of the motion to quash said count was not reversible error.

4. Appellant’s contention that the act of March 5, 1915 (Acts 1915, ch. 62, p. 123, §343a Burns’ Supp. 1918), declaring that allegations of conclusions shall be treated as averments of all facts necessary to sustain the conclusions alleged, and that the defendant’s remedy shall be by a motion [651]*651to set out the facts relied on, is void under the Constitution as applied to pleadings in criminal cases is sustained by recent decisions of this court. Hinshaw v. State (1919), 188 Ind. 147, 122 N. E. 418; id. (1919), 188 Ind. 447, 124 N. E. 458.

Under the.authorities cited it was not error to overrule appellant’s motion to make the indictment more specific.

5. The statute expressly authorizes the joinder of a count for larceny with a count for the embezzlement of the same property (Acts 1905, ch. 169, pp. 584, 624, §185; §2056 Burns 1914) and it does not appear, either from the averments of the indictment or from the evidence, that appellant was charged with taking more than a single sum of money, one count charging that he stole it and the other that he embezzled it.

There was no error in overruling the motion to require the state to elect on which count of the indictment it would rely for a conviction.

6. 7. The refusal of the trial court to give the jury 'a peremptory instruction in favor of the defendant at the conclusion of the state’s evidence is assigned as error. If error at all, this would be a cause for a new trial, and should not be separately assigned as error. However, by proceeding with the introduction of evidence after his motion was overruled, the defendant waived the motion.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pointon v. State
408 N.E.2d 1255 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1980)
Vaden v. State
383 N.E.2d 60 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1978)
Jones v. State
195 N.E.2d 460 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1964)
Tungate v. State
147 N.E.2d 232 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1958)
Madison v. State
130 N.E.2d 35 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1955)
Randolph v. State
122 N.E.2d 860 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1954)
Cosgriff v. Duluth Firemen's Relief Assn.
46 N.W.2d 250 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1951)
Utley v. State
91 N.E.2d 355 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1950)
Petillo v. State
89 N.E.2d 623 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1950)
Hoy v. State
85 N.E.2d 493 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1949)
White v. State
37 N.E.2d 937 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1941)
Peachee v. State
22 N.E.2d 979 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1939)
Hicks v. State
11 N.E.2d 171 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1937)
Walter v. State
1 N.E.2d 127 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1936)
Kennedy v. State
196 N.E. 316 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1935)
Deshone v. State
193 N.E. 223 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1934)
Large v. State
164 N.E. 263 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1928)
Kimmel v. State
154 N.E. 16 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1926)
Hoffa v. State
142 N.E. 653 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1924)
Bohan v. State
141 N.E. 323 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
128 N.E. 926, 189 Ind. 644, 1920 Ind. LEXIS 69, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bowen-v-state-ind-1920.