Jones v. State

171 S.W.2d 298, 205 Ark. 806, 1943 Ark. LEXIS 247
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 10, 1943
Docket4296
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 171 S.W.2d 298 (Jones v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. State, 171 S.W.2d 298, 205 Ark. 806, 1943 Ark. LEXIS 247 (Ark. 1943).

Opinions

McFaddin, J.

Appellant, Louis Jones, was convicted of grand larceny for stealing two automobile tires. Tbe facts disclosed by tlie record show that one morning in April, 1942, W. M. Brawnick found his automobile jacked up and two tires gone. A few days later he identified his tires at the police station and recovered them; and they were worth $25. The police had taken the appellant, Louis Jones, into custody; and he led the officers to the tires in the attic at his house and finally said that Henry Lollis had asked appellant to store the tires for Lollis. Appellant denied knowing that the tires were stolen. His story was, that one night Lollis had asked appellant to move some things for him; and appellant had stopped at a cafe and Lollis had put some articles in the cár and had said ‘‘you take the things and store them for me and I will be over Friday evening and get them.” Appellant claimed that a witness named Herman Ogburn was present and heard this conversation between appellant and Lollis and that the witness would so testify. Appellant stated that when he reached home on that night, he learned for the first time that the articles in his car were automobile tires, and that he stored them in his attic where the police found them the nest day or the day following.

Henry Lollis, after having pleaded guilty to larceny for stealing the tires, testified that he and appellant Jones stole the tires in a joint undertaking. Lollis said that about eleven o’clock at night he and appellant Jones stole the tires from the Brawniek car and that Jones watched while Lollis got the tires off the car and then Jones and Lollis rolled the tires to Jones’ car and Jones took the tires home and later paid Lollis $5 and Jones kept the tires. There was other testimony in the record.

Appellant was arrested in April, 1942,, and bound over to the grand jury and made bond for appearance in circuit court. On November 20, 1942, the formal information was filed in the circuit court; and’ on November 23 appellant entered a plea of not guilty, and the case was set for trial on November 30. On November 26 appellant had a subpoena issued to the sheriff of Miller county for Herman Ogburn; and on November 30 when the case was called for trial the sheriff made a return in open court that the witness could not be found in the county. Appellant then filed in open court that day, his motion for continuance alleging, inter alia, that “Herman Ogburn is now serving in the armed forces of the United States of America, and that' he is beyond the jurisdiction of this court, and that his whereabouts are unknown to this defendant.” The motion set up that Herman Ogburn would testify that Henry Lollis told the defendant that the property placed in the car was the property of-Henry Lollis and that Henry Lollis, did not tell appellant that any part of the property was stolen and that appellant was only keeping the property in storage for Henry'Lollis. The motion for continuance asked that the cause be continued for the duration of the war.

The motion for continuance was overruled, and the appellant then filed on the same day “motion to take depositions,” seeking to have the depositions taken under §§ 3946-49 of Pope’s Digest; and-alleging that Herman Ogburn was in the United States Army absent from the state of Arkansas and that if time would be allowed to take his deposition the witness would testify as stated in the motion for continuance. The court overruled the motion to take deposition and the cause proceeded to trial resulting in the verdict of guilty as previously mentioned.

In the motion for new trial the defendant listed thirteen alleged errors of the trial court. Those now insisted on in this court are: 1. Overruling motion for continuance. 2. Overruling motion to take depositions. 3. The insufficiency of evidence. 4. The lack, of testimony to corroborate the accomplice. 5. Identification of the property.

1. Motion for Continuance.

The appellant contends that the motion for continuance should have been granted; but with this contention we do not agree. In Allison v. State, 74 Ark. 444, 86 S. W. 409, Judge Riddick, speaking for the court, said: “It has often been decided that whether a case should be continued or not is generally a matter within, the sound discretion of the trial court. Its refusal to grant a continuance is never a ground for a new trial unles's it clearly appears to have been an abuse of such discretion, and manifestly operates as a denial of justice. It does not so appear in this case, and that contention must be overruled. Jackson v. State, 54 Ark. 243, 15 S. W. 607; Price v. State, 57 Ark. 165, 20 S. W. 1091."

In Davis v. State, 95 Ark. 555, 129 S. W. 530, Judge Pratjenti-ial, speaking for the court, said: “The application for continuance should have shown where these witnesses resided, and that it was probable that their testimony pould be obtained in event the case was continued. It was also defective in not showing that the desired facts could not be proved by other witnesses. Jackson v. State, 54 Ark. 243, 15 S. W. 607.”

This quotation is directly in point; the motion for continuance here stated that the witness, Herman Ogburn, was in tbe armed forces of tbe United States and Ms whereabouts was unknown and the continuance was asked for the duration of the war. Neither did it recite that the desired facts could not be shown by other witnesses. The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act (U.S.C.A. Title 50,’Appendix § 510), cannot be invoked by persons, not in the armed forces, who merely want to bring soldiers or sailors back to court to testify as witnesses. In the case of Lassiter v. State, 137 Ark. 273, 208 S. W. 21, the accused had asked for a continuance because two of his witnesses were in the United States Army in France in the first world war and a continuance was refused by the trial court and this court held there was no abuse in discretion.

2. Motion to Take Depositions

After the motion for continuance was overruled appellant then filed his motion to take the deposition of the absent witness, Herman Ogburn, under §§ 3946-49 of Pope’s Digest; and appellant here complains of the action of the trial court in overruling the said motion. These sections of Pope’s Digest are § 154 of the Criminal Code of 1869. In Giboney v. Rogers, 32 Ark. 462, and in McDonald v. State, 155 Ark. 142, 244 S. W. 20, these sections were invoked. In the first case, the .result was successful, because the application was timely. In the second cas.e, the depositions were suppressed, because the statute was not followed. The historical background of § 154 and its counterpart in other states would afford a very interesting study, but would unnecessarily prolong this opinion.

The defendant in the case at bar, in filing a motion to take depositions was seeking a continuance by indirection, because the granting of the motion would have gained for him the continuance that had been denied. In Jenkins v. State, 131 Ark. 312, 198 S. W. 877, the defendant asked for a’ continuance to take depositions and the question of diligence arose and was decided adversely to the appellant in that case: for the same reason — lack of due diligence — we hold against appellant here. ■

The appellant was arrested in April, 1942, and bound over to the circuit court.

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Bluebook (online)
171 S.W.2d 298, 205 Ark. 806, 1943 Ark. LEXIS 247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-state-ark-1943.