McCoy v. State

170 N.E.2d 43, 241 Ind. 104, 1960 Ind. LEXIS 143
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1960
Docket29,850
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 170 N.E.2d 43 (McCoy 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
McCoy v. State, 170 N.E.2d 43, 241 Ind. 104, 1960 Ind. LEXIS 143 (Ind. 1960).

Opinion

Arterburn, J.

The appellant was charged, tried and convicted of receiving stolen goods under Burns’ §10-8017, 1956 Repl., which reads as follows:

“Receiving stolen goods. — 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 pretense, shall, if the goods be of the value of twenty-five dollars [$25.00] 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 [$25.00] shall suffer the punishment prescribed for petit larceny.”

The evidence showed that the defendant’s eleven-year-old son, Max Allsup, and another boy nine years old, Hubert Shipley, Jr., broke into the F. W. Woolworth store and stole a radio, record player and other merchandise and took it to defendant’s home one night. Evidence further shows that she knew the merchandise had been stolen by her son and the Shipley boy at the time. That same night they made two further trips to the store and returned with more merchandise. The Shipley boy stated that the defendant took certain “jewelry and stuff” up to her room at the time the merchandise was brought to her home. When a policeman came to her door that night she volunteered no information and she later concealed part of the merchandise and took some of it to the home of her parents.

Appellant first claims that by reason of the relationship of mother and son, she is immune from prosecution on the charge of receiving stolen goods from her son because of the following two statutes:

*110 “Burns’ Indiana Statutes Annotated, Section 9-103. Accessory after the fact. — Every person not standing in the relation of husband or wife, parent or child, to any person guilty of any felony, who shall, after the commission of such crime, harbor, conceal or assist such offender, with intent that he shall escape from detection, capture, arrest or punishment, shall be deemed an accessory after the fact, and may be charged, indicted, tried, convicted and punished, though the principal be neither charged, indicted, tried nor convicted; and, on such conviction, he shall suffer the same punishment and penalties as are prescribed by law for the punishment of the principal. But in such charge the offense committed by the principal offender shall be stated, and it shall therein be charged that the accessory did so harbor, conceal or assist such offender, with intent that he should escape detection, arrest, capture or punishment. [Acts 1905, ch. 169, §226, p. 584; 1935, ch. 124, §1, p. 465.]”

and

“Burns’ Indiana Statutes Annotated, Section 10-1004. Concealing felons. — Whoever, not being husband or wife, parent or child of any person guilty of a felony, knowing him to be such, harbors or conceals such felon, shall, on conviction, be imprisoned in the state prison for any determinate period • of not less than one [1] year nor more than ten [10] years. [Acts 1905, ch. 169, §482, p. 584; 1935, "ch. 124, §2, p. 465.]”

The first statute is applicable only to cases where a defendant is charged as an accessory after the fact. The defendant here is not charged as an accessory after the fact, but as a principal in the offense of receiving stolen property under Burns’ §10-3017, 1956 Repl. The statute (Burns’ §9-103) is not applicable here. As to Burns’ §10-1004, we point out likewise that the defendant is not here charged with concealing a felon and therefore that statute is not applicable.

*111 Appellant further urges upon us that at common law a mother was protected in the family relationship to the extent that she should not be compelled to take a position antagonistic to the interests of her children. Quite an emotional plea is made to that effect. Regardless of how receptive such a plea may be to one’s emotions, we must recognize that the law imposes upon the parents the duty of discipline rather than the aiding and abetting in the concealment of crimes of their children. In fact, the law holds parents liable for contributing to the delinquency of their children. Decency and self-respect require a rejection of a plea which would cultivate and promote delinquency and discourage good morals. The appellant cites the case of Caldwell v. State (1922), 193 Ind. 237, 137 N. E. 179 which involved a conviction of a wife for receiving stolen property from her husband. The conviction was reversed on the ground that the offense took place in the presence of the husband under whose domination she was at the time. Under such circumstances it is the duty of the State to prove that there was no coercion on the part of the wife at the time of the commission of the alleged crime. It has been said:

“At common law, a married woman is capable of, and responsible for, a crime committed by her, just as if unmarried, except as to acts done in the presence of her husband. If she commits a criminal act in his presence, it is presumed that she did it under constraint by him, and she is therefore excused and he is presumably punishable except in case of murder or treason. The presumption is a very slight one and may be rebutted by very slight circumstances. In view of a married woman’s status at the present time, the presumption should not and generally does, not exist.” 14 Am. Jur., Criminal Law, §62, pp. 811, 812.

*112 In this case there is no evidence and, of course, it cannot be presumed that the mother was under the domination of and coerced by her young son at the time she received the stolen property. The plea of the appellant upon this proposition is rejected.

The appellant contends that since the affidavit alleges that the property was “feloniously” stolen by two minors age eleven and nine, respectively, it charges the minors committed a felony of grand larceny, requiring imprisonment in the state prison. Burns’ §9-101, 1956 Repl. We are not inclined to give this contention serious consideration for the reason first, that such word may be considered surplusage and secondly, the statute defining the receiving of stolen property merely stated property “which has been stolen, taken by robbers, embezzled or obtained by false pretense.” The word “stolen” has quite a broad meaning and would apply to property unlawfully taken by minors subject to the juvenile laws. Burns’ §9-3103 and Burns’ §9-3204.

Burns’ Section 9-1613 further provides that in any prosecution for the offense of receiving stolen property “it shall not be necessary on the trial thereof to prove that the person who stole such property had been convicted.”

Appellant next complains of certain admissions by Max Allsup, the son, on the ground that the confessions of a thief are not admissible against the one receiving stolen property. With the general principle we are in agreement. However, the evidence shows here that the statements were made by the son in the-presence of the appellant, his mother, to a police officer, the witness, when he came to the appellant’s home and asked to come in and talk to the son.

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Bluebook (online)
170 N.E.2d 43, 241 Ind. 104, 1960 Ind. LEXIS 143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccoy-v-state-ind-1960.