Levine v. State

1931 OK CR 99, 296 P. 758, 50 Okla. Crim. 157, 1931 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 83
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 6, 1931
DocketNo. A-7599.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1931 OK CR 99 (Levine v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Levine v. State, 1931 OK CR 99, 296 P. 758, 50 Okla. Crim. 157, 1931 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 83 (Okla. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

CHAPPELL, J.

Plaintiff in error, hereinafter called defendant, was convicted in the district court of Okmulgee county of the crime of grand larceny, and his punishment fixed by the jury at imprisonment for eighteen months in the state penitentiary.

The evidence of the state was that the defendant at the time of the larceny was engaged in the business of buying and selling second hand oil well supplies and materials, with an office in the city of Okmulgee; that the prosecuting witness, J. K. Gardner, was an oil contractor and producer; that in May, 1927, Gardner left Okmulgee and went to Pennsylvania and remained there until the 5th day of February, 1928; that when Gardner left for Pennsylvania he was the owner of 3,500 feet of seven- *158 eighths inch galvanized drilling; cable No. 69241-A and 4,500 feet of wire cable and sand line, which property was worth approximately $1,000, and the same was located on section 35 — 13—13, in Okmulgee county; that soon after Gardner returned from Pennsylvania he visited the lease where the property had been left, and found that the same had been removed therefrom in his absence; that Gardner had not authorized any one to remove or dispose of said property; that search was made for the missing property and that this search led to the office of defendant; that defendant seemed surprised to ¡learn that the property was missing and said he would help find it if he could, and asked Gardner to look defendant’s yard over; that later it was discovered that defendant had sold this cable and sand line in November, 1927, to J. E. Martin, for $450, which was less than one-half the value of the property, and that defendant delivered the property to Martin’s lease near Bixby, in Tulsa county; that defendant talked to a truck man about 4 o’clock one afternoon and said that it had to be hauled that evening and showed the driver where it was; and that about dark the driver took the truck and got the stuff and hauled it to the location near Bajldhill.

It also1 appears in the evidence of the state that the defendant took from 2,500 to 3,000 feet of oil well casing from the Gardner lease and rented it to' one H. B. Smith and collected $500 rent for the same; that defendant told Smith that the pipe belonged to some Jews in Tulsa.

Defendant testified and his defense was that he took the property in controversy from the Gardner lease in pursuance of an agreement Bill Hewitt, an alleged partner of defendant, had with Gardner to1 sell' Gardner’s property for $20,000 and take as commission the surpilus above $20,000 and whatever production Gardner had, amounting to1 8 or 10 barrels. Hewitt was not called to testify, and *159 the only evidence offered by the defendant to support his claim was what he claimed Hewitt told him about his contract with Gardner.

If the jury believed the unsupported story of the defendant that he sold the property in good faith believing that he had a right to do so by virtue of the alleged agreement which he claims Hewitt said that he (Hewitt) had with Gardner, then the jury might have acquitted' him.

The defense of the defendant amounted to a contention that he was not guilty of the crime of larceny, but, if guilty of anything, it was embezzlement.

“Larceny” is defined in section 2101, C. O. S. 1921, as follows:
“Larceny is the taking of personal property accomplished by fraud or stealth, and with intent to deprive another thereof.”

Under this definition, the evidence of the state establishes a case of grand larceny, and not embezzlement.

Defendant contends that the state failed to prove that the property was taken without the consent of Gardner, the owner.

Gardner, the owner of the property, testified that he new. gave the defendant or Hewitt any authority to sell M,ny part of the property or to remove the same from the premises; but that he did, a few months before he left for Pennsylvania, authorize Hewitt to sell all the property on the lease for the sum of $20,000 cash, to one Vivens, in Tulsa; and that when Hewitt failed to make that sale that Gardner withdrew the proposition and never thereafter conferred with Hewitt or any one else, nor authorized anyone to take the property from the lease or sell the same.

*160 While the prosecuting witness does not directly say that the property was-taken by the defendant from the lease wthout his consent, yet all the facts and circumstances in the case show that the taking was without his consent.

In Filson v. Territory, 11 Okla. 351, 67 Pac. 473, that court said:

“In order to1 support a conviction for the crime of larceny, the proof must show that the property which is the subject of larceny was taken without the consent of the owner; but direct and positive declarations of the owner are not required. If all the facts and circumstances in evidence connected with or surrounding the taking will warrant the reasonable and rational inference that the property was taken without such consent, then such verdict will not be disturbed for lack of direct proof.”

In George v. U. S., 1 Okla. Cr. 307, 97 Pac. 1052, 1054, 100 Pac. 46, this court said:

“The fact that the owner caused search to be made for the stolen property is a cogent circumstance to show want of his consent to the taking.”

Defendant next contends that the court erred in admitting evidence that at the time the stolen property was found by Gardner an effort had been made to destroy or efface the numbers that were on the spool on which the cable was wound.

This was a circumstance tending to show that the property was probably taken with a felonious intent to appropriate it and to1 deprive the owner of it, instead of under any claim of right. The weight of this evidence, of course, was dependent upon the showing made connecting defendant with the act of defacement or mutilation. Here defendant admits the taking, and that admission is at least sufficient to show the exercise of some dominion *161 and control over this property by defendant before its discovery and after the taking. No one else would have any motive to deface the property, and this fact was a sufficient predicate to render the evidence admissible and let the jury pass on its probative force. Watson v. State, 125 Ark. 597, 187 S. W. 434; Johnson v. State, 77 Ga. 68; Areola v. State, 40 Tex. Cr. R. 51, 48 S. W. 195; State v. Church, 54 Utah, 53, 182 Pac. 218.

Defendant next contends that the trial court erred in excluding certain material and competent evidence offered by defendant.

An examination of the record discloses that practically all the evidence complained of was admitted by the court, and since defendant made no tender of the balance of what he expected to prove, this court is unable to tell whether the same was competent or not. If the court refuses to permit the introduction of evidence, the party offering the same should dictate what he expects to prove by the witness into the record and let the court rule upon same and save his exceptions.

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Related

Holman v. State
1953 OK CR 143 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1953)
Louis v. State
1953 OK CR 7 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1953)
Cole v. State
1931 OK CR 204 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1931)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1931 OK CR 99, 296 P. 758, 50 Okla. Crim. 157, 1931 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 83, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/levine-v-state-oklacrimapp-1931.