McClaskey v. State

270 S.W. 498, 168 Ark. 339, 1925 Ark. LEXIS 133
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 23, 1925
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 270 S.W. 498 (McClaskey 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
McClaskey v. State, 270 S.W. 498, 168 Ark. 339, 1925 Ark. LEXIS 133 (Ark. 1925).

Opinion

Smith, J.

-Appellant was indicted- for disposing of

certain personal ¡property upon’ which ‘a mortgage lien existed.. Omitting the formal parts, the indictment reads as follows: “The said Otto McClaskey aforesaid, on the first day of January, 1924, did unlawfully, knowingly, and feloniously sell, barter, exchange and dispose of one 3" Bane log-wagons of the value of $150 and one Oakland automobile of the value of $150, all of the total" value of $300, upon which log-wagon and Oakland .automobile one J. W. McCormack.had a chattel mortgage -to secure -the payment of $82.90 due him by the .said Otto McClas-key, with the felonious intent to defeat the holder-of said mortgage in the collection of the .said debt seCuried by such mortgage.” .' - •

The indictment was demurred to on the -ground that it did not charge a pliblic offense. • The demurrer was overruled, and an exception was saved to that ruling.'

' The testimony on the, part of the State was to the effect that the debt matured .and was, not paid, .upon demand, and that neither the wagon nor the- -automobile was available for-the purpose of foreclosing' the Mortgage. . ' ' -

■In the case of Stewart'v. State, 139 Ark, 403,. it was held that the statute under which appellant was indicted and convicted (§ 2552, C. & M. Digest) did'not require, as a condition for conviotion for disposing of mortgaged property, that a demand 'be made on the mortgagor for the ddbt or mortgaged property or the refusal of payment of the indebtedness on the mortgagor’s -pari It is insisted that the undisputed testimony shows-that appellant did not dispose of the automobile, and that reversible error was committed in not excluding from the. jury any consideration of the disposition of the automobile. ....

The testimony shows that appellant, had .plaped-, the automobile in a garage at Nettleton, which is in the. disr tr,ict of the county in which the venue of .the offense is laid, for storage and repairs. This garage was operated by a man named Edwards,, and he testified that the automobile had been in his-garage since the summer of 1924 (the trial occurred November 22, 1924), and..that his charges for repairs amounting to $30 had not. been paid. But it does not appear that, McCormack, the mortgagee, was advised of the location of the automobile -until that fact was developed at the trial. On the contrary, McCormack testified that appellant told him the .wagon had been stolen, and that the automobile was somewhere in the county, but the witness was unable to find either. Under these facts, we think.no error was committed in not excluding the testimony in regard to the automobile.

The mortgage has been .executed at Bono, , which Was also in the district of the county in which' the .venue of the offense was laid, and both the wagon and! the automobile had been removed from that neighborhood^' and McCormack testified that he could find neither:' If appellant had in fact concealed the automobile so that it could not be- found for the purpose of foreclosing the - mortgage, this would constitute a- disposition of it within the meaning of the statute: • : - :

Appellant had been engaged in sawmilling,- and owned several wagons. It was admitted that lie hád sold a wagon to a man named Hannah, and- this: 'wagon was present at the trial and was visible to the 'witnesses while testifiying'in the case. It will be observed that the indictment described the wagon as “one 3." Bane log-wagon,” and the wagon sold Hannah was a 3%". Bane log-wagon. : Appellant testified that he owned a 3" Bane log-wagon, but he testified that this wagon had been stolen from him, and that the wagon sold Hannah was not the wagon covered by the mortgage;

'' McCormack testified, however, that the wagon mortgaged was pointed out to him, that appellant walked np to the wagon, shook it, and said it was the wagon to be mortgaged, and the witnesses idéntified the wagon produced at the trial and which appellant admitted, he had sold Hannah'as the wagon pointed out to him by'appellant.

The size 3" has relation to the spindle, and a 314" wagon was one whose spindle’was 314 inches, and consequently a slightly larger' wag-on' than one whose spindle was 3 inches in size. The whgon sold Hannah by appellant was a Bañe log-wagon, but its spindle was 314") and it' is insisted that this difference makes a .fatal variance in the description of the property alleged to have been mortgaged and disposed of.'

Appellant asked an instruction to the effect that this difference was material and constituted a fatal variance,; but the court refused to. so instruct the jury, and treated .this difference as immaterial, provided the jury.found that appellant had in fact disposed of the wagon mortgaged with the fraudulent intent of defeating -the mortgage lien. ’ 1

W.e think no error was committed. in this respect. The^ wagon- mortgaged was, a Bane log-wagon, and the one sold-Hannah was a Bane log-wagon, and we think the ■ difference between 3 inches and-314 inches in the size of the spindle did not constitute a fatal variance. The party who drew the mortgage, testified that the description employed was furnished by appellant himself, and McCormack testified . that the wagon described in the mortgage- was the- one which appellant had pointed out to him.

The; defendant conld not have 'been misled in the preparation of his defense, and the State conld not have prosecuted him again had he been acquitted, because-of this difference in description.

The rule in such cases is stated in Underhill’s Criminal Evidence (3d ed.), § 80, as follows': “In deterbairiing whether a variance is material, the question to be decided is, does the indictment so far fully' and correctly inform the defendant of the criminal act with- which he is charged' that, taking into consideration the proof which is introduced against him, he is not misled in making his defense, or placed in danger of 'being twice put in jeopardy -for the same offense? If this be not -so, then the variance is material, and, the State having -failed to prove the crime in substance as it is alleged, the acquittal of the accused should be directed.

. In the case of Pritchett v. State, 160 Ark. 233, the défendaht was charged with the crime of arson, alleged to have been committed by burning a railroad bridge designated as bridge 7807, when, according to tbe proof, the bridge burned was designated by the railroad as No. 7807. The indictment had further described the bridge as one'owned by the railroad company and as being three miles'northeast of Eureka Springs, and we held" the variance'was not of sufficient substance in its nature to prove fatal.

IJpon the authority of the casé of State v. Harberson, 43 Ark. 378, it is insisted.that the indictment is defective because: (I) it does not allege to whom the sale was; made^or that.the vendee was unknown; (2) it. does not allege that the debt was unpaid; (3) it does not. allege that the inprtgage was acknowledged, and it therefore' does.not appear that the instrument was one which could be recorded; and (4), it does not allege the venue of the existing .lien.

■The statute construed in the Harberson case has been, a-ihended- since the date, of that decision, .and tbe existing 'statute- has been construed in later- cases, •

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Bluebook (online)
270 S.W. 498, 168 Ark. 339, 1925 Ark. LEXIS 133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcclaskey-v-state-ark-1925.