Elliott v. State

82 So. 139, 77 Fla. 611
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMay 12, 1919
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 82 So. 139 (Elliott v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Elliott v. State, 82 So. 139, 77 Fla. 611 (Fla. 1919).

Opinion

Browne, C. J.

— Robert Elliott and Enlie Russell were found guilty in the Circuit Court for Washington County on an indictment charging Robert Elliott with obtaining money under false pretenses, and Eulie Russell with being present, aiding, abetting, assisting, counseling and advising Robert Elliott in the commission of the offense, and seek reversal by writ of error.

The first assignment of error is based on the order of the court sustaining the demurrer to the plea in abatement. The point presented is that the grand jury that found the indictment was an unlawful one in that the legal panel was quashed, and the court ordered the sheriff to summon a jury from the body of the county, and the sheriff, instead of going outside of the court house,, summoned the men who had previously been discharged as grand jurors. It is contended that when a sheriff is ordered to summon a jury from the body of the county he is precluded from summoning bystanders. While there may be some impropriety in the sheriff executing the order of the court in this manner, there is nothing in the law to warrant the conclusion that a jury so summoned is an illegal one. There is nothing to show that the men so summoned did not come from the body of the county, and the demurrer to the plea in abatement was properly sustained. Ford v. State, 44 Fla. 421, 33 South. Rep. 301; Davis v. State, 46 Fla. 137, 35 South. Rep. 76; Mendenhall v. State, 71 Fla. 552, 72 South. Rep. 202; Thomas v. State, 73 Fla. 115, 74 South. Rep. 1, headnote 13.

The second assignment of error is based on the overruling of defendant’s motion to quash the indictment.

[614]*614On behalf of Elliott it is contended that it is not charged that he “obtained” the money from the bank. The indictment says “that Robert Elliott * * * did then and there designedly by false pretenses, and with intent to defraud the Chipley State Bank,, a corporation, obtain from the said bank, and from C. B. Royster, the cashier thereof, Twenty Seven Hundred and Fifty Dollars,” etc.

The point made by the plaintiff in error is that this part of the indictment is the inducement, and that the subsequent part that follows the words “that is to say” does not charge Elliott with having obtained the money, but alleges that the Chipley State Bank and its cashier “let the said Robert Elliott have,, and then and there paid to the said Robert Elliott,” etc.

The first part of the indictment described the offence substantially in the words of the statute, and the part that follows the words “that is to say” sets out in detail the manner in which the offence was committed.

The allegation in an indictment that the defrauded party “paid” and “paid over” to the accused a certain sum of money and that he took and received a check in exchange for said money is equivalent to an allegation that the person to whom it was paid, obtained it.

The rule is thus stated in 3 Bishop’s New Grim. Pro. § 175, “To constitute the completed offence, the thing must be obtained, the allegation whereof must be in words fully covering the idea.”

We think the words used in this indictment fully cover the idea that Elliott “obtained” the money from the bank.

Plaintiff in error further insists that indictment is defective as to Russell because it does not allege the specific acts, or by what means and manner he aided and [615]*615assisted Elliott to commit the offence. The sufficiency of this indictment to charge Russell with having aided and abetted Elliott in committing the offence seems to be settled in this State. “A joint indictment against two persons, charging by proper averments the commission of a crime by the one, and that the other was present aiding, abetting and assisting in the commission of the said crime, is sufficient as to the latter without repeating in the allegations as to him the acts that constitute the crime charged.” Everett v. State, 33 Fla. 661, 15 South. Rep. 543.

The third, fourth and fifth assignments are based upon the denial of the motions of Eulie Russell for a severance and continuance for the term made on June 26th, and on July 10th. Had the motion for continuance been granted, the severance would have followed, but the motion for cotninuance did not come within the rule in several particulars. It did not give the names of the witnesses, nor did it show that they were in the State of Florida and subject to the jurisdiction of the court. The affidavit refers to “two certain witnesses, one, who he is informed resides in the State of Alabama, and the other probably in the State of Florida.” As the motion did not come within the rule and it is not shown that there has been a palpable abuse of the broad discretion vested in the trial courts in granting or denying applications for continuance of causes, it was not error to deny the motions for continuance. Having properly denied them, there was'no error in denying the motion for a severance on the showing made.

The eighth, ninth and tenth assignments are based upon the denial of challenges of certain jurors on account of their being depositors in the Chipley State Bank whose. [616]*616money the defendants were charged with having fraudulently obtained.

The mere fact that a person is a depositor in a bank does not ipso facto disqualify him to serve as a juror in all cases where the bank is interested, or is the injured party in a criminal prosecution. But we can see how under certain circumstances his interests might be so affected by the transactions out of which the cause arose as to disqualify him. In each case the bias of the juror should be carefully inquired into on the examination on his voir dire, and the trial judge should allow a challenge for cause, if it seems that his connection with the bank as a depositor might cause him to lean towards or against one of the parties to the trial.

So carefully are the courts to guard the constitutional right of a person to a fair and impartial trial that it has been held that in a prosecution for stealing a dollar’s worth of electricity from an electric company a motorman on one of the company’s street cars was not a qualified juror. Berbette v. State, 109 Miss. 94, 67 South. Rep. 853, and that “a tenant from year to year is' disqualified to serve as a juror in a suit in which his landlord is a party.” Pipher v. Lodge, 16 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 214.

In the case of Harrisburg Bank v. Forster, 8 Watts (Pa.) 304, a tenant of one of the directors of the bank was held to be disqualified to serve in a suit by the bank on a promissory note; and an employee of a Compress Company, some of t'he stock of which was held by a Railroad Company, was disqualified to serve in a suit for personal injuries against the Railroad Company. Temples v. Central of Georgia R. Co., 15 Ga. App. 115, 82 S. E. Rep. 777.

[617]*617The half-brother of a witness who had been promised a position as overseer in the event his testimony resulted in the recovery of certain plantations, was held to be disqualified, although the juror swore that he did not know that the witness, his half-brother, had any interest in the íxxatter, and there was no circustance to “cast even the least shadow of doubt upon the truthfulness of his denial.” Beall v. Clark, 71 Ga. 818.

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Bluebook (online)
82 So. 139, 77 Fla. 611, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elliott-v-state-fla-1919.