Bowers v. State

146 N.E. 818, 196 Ind. 4, 1925 Ind. LEXIS 4
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 10, 1925
DocketNo. 24,776.
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 146 N.E. 818 (Bowers 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
Bowers v. State, 146 N.E. 818, 196 Ind. 4, 1925 Ind. LEXIS 4 (Ind. 1925).

Opinion

Willoughby, J.

After a motion for a new trial was overruled and exceptions taken, judgment was rendered on the verdict, fixing the fine in the sum of $100, and that appellant be imprisoned in the Indiana State Prison not less than one year nor more than fourteen years. That he be disfranchised and rendered incapable of holding any office of trust or profit for-a period of two years and that he pay and satisfy the costs,

*6 Appellant appeals and assigns as error, that the court erred in overruling his motion for a new trial. Appellant claims that the court erred in overruling his motion made at the conclusion of all the evidence to require the state to elect upon which count in the affidavit 'it desired to proceed for conviction.

Section 2451 Burns 1926, §2269 Burns 1914, provides that—“whoever feloniously steals, takes and carries, leads or drives away the personal goods of another of the value of twenty-five dollars or upward is guilty of grand larceny, and, on conviction, shall be imprisoned in the state prison not less than one year nor more than fourteen years, fined not exceeding double the value of the goods stolen, and disfranchised and rendered incapable of holding any office of trust or profit for any determinate period.” ■

Section 2465 Burns 1926, §2278 Burns 1914, provides that—“Whoever buys, receives, conceals or aids in the concealment of anything of value, which has been stolen, taken by robbers, embezzled or obtained by false pretense, knowing the same to have been stolen, taken by robbers, embezzled or obtained by false pretenses, shall, if the goods be of the value of twenty-five dollars or more, on conviction, suffer the. punishment prescribed for grand larceny, and if the goods be of the value of less than twenty-five dollars shall suffer the punishment prescribed for petit larceny.”

Section 2212 Burns 1926, §2056 Burns 1914, provides that—“An indictment or affidavit for larceny may contain a count for * * * receiving or concealing the same property, knowing it to have been stolen * * * and the accused may be convicted of either offense, and the court or jury trying the cause may find all or any of the persons accused guilty of the offenses charged.”

Another provision of statute, §2277 Burns 1926, §2121 Burns 1914, provides that—“In any prosecution *7 for the offense of buying, receiving, concealing or aiding in the concealing of any stolen property, it shall not be necessary on the trial thereof, to prove that the person who stole such property has been convicted.”

Another provision of statute, §2219 Burns 1926, §2061 Burns 1914, provides that—“When any offense is committed upon or in relation to any property * * * which, when the offense was committed, was in possession of a bailee * * * the indictment or affidavit for such offense shall be deemed sufficient, if it allege the ownership of such property to be in such * * * bailee.”

It appears that the property named in each count of the affidavit is the same property, viz.: two 34 x 4 size Kelly-Springfield brand automobile tires, of the value of sixty dollars and the property of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company.

The court did not err in overruling appellant’s motion to require the state to elect upon which count in the affidavit it desired to proceed for conviction of the defendant. §2212 Burns 1926, §2056 Burns 1914; Kennegar v. State (1889), 120 Ind. 176; Goodman v. State (1895), 141 Ind. 35; Rokvic v. State (1924), 194 Ind. 450, 143 N. E. 357; Ewbank, Criminal Law, §§265-268.

The appellant claims that the court erred in giving instruction No. 12, which is as follows: “To warrant the conviction of the defendant under the second count of the affidavit, the State must prove by the evidence; first, that the property described in the affidavit or some part of it was stolen. Second, that the defendant received the property or some part of it from persons who stole it or from some one acting for or on behalf of such thief. Third, that the defendant when he received such property knew that it was stolen property.”

The objection pointed out to this instruction by the *8 appellant is that it fails to state the degree of proof required before a conviction may be had.

Instruction No. 12, is followed by instructions Nos. 13 and 14 which are as follows:

Instruction No. 13.—“Evidence has been introduced in this cause that the property described in the second count of the affidavit was stolen by persons whose true names are to the affiant unknown and that such property was by them stolen from the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company.

“In order to render the offense of receiving stolen goods possible under this count, the goods stolen must retain their stolen character at the time received, if received by the defendant. If the goods were transferred by the thief to a guilty receiver, then such person takes as the receiver and not as the thief; and one receiving the goods from some other source than from the thief would not be guilty of receiving stolen goods unless the person from whom the same were received be the agent of the thief, and the defendant knew it and receives •such goods under such circumstances as to connect him with the thief.

“If the defendant received the goods in question, or any part thereof, from some second party other than the thief and such second party was the agent of the thief and the defendant knew him to be such and that such goods had been stolen, then such goods would retain their stolen character at the time of such receipt by the defendant and all other necessary elements having been proven, he would be guilty of receiving stolen goods.”

Instruction No. 14.—“Guilty knowledge on the part of the defendant that the goods had been stolen is essential to the constitution of the offense, but it is also true that proof of direct knowledge is not necessary and that evidence of facts and circumstances sufficient to *9

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Bluebook (online)
146 N.E. 818, 196 Ind. 4, 1925 Ind. LEXIS 4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bowers-v-state-ind-1925.