People v. O'Brian

97 P. 679, 8 Cal. App. 641, 1908 Cal. App. LEXIS 275
California Court of Appeal·Decided August 15, 1908·No. Crim. No. 73.·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

*643 NUTTER, J.

Appeal from judgment and from orders denying the motion for a new trial and denying the motion in arrest of judgment.

The information in this case is entitled and was filed in •the superior court of Sacramento county, state of California, and it charges that the defendant on a certain day in September, 1907, “at the said County of Sacramento, in the State-of California, and before the filing of this information, was then and there by one Michael Ward intrusted as bailee with certain personal property, to wit, a certificate of deposit for the sum of two hundred and' fifty dollars, lawful money of the United States, on the Silver Bow National Bank of Butte City, in the State of Montana, payable to the said Michael Ward, then and there of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, lawful money of the United States, and then' and there the personal property of the said Michael Ward, and thereafter on or about the 5th day of September, 1907, at and in the City, County and State aforesaid, the said Cornelius 0 ’Brian did cash said certificate of deposit and did then and there receive and take into his (the said Cornelius O’Brian’s) control and care the said sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, lawful money of the United States, for and on account of the said Michael Ward, and thereafter and on or about said last-mentioned day, and in the said City, County and State aforesaid, did willfully, unlawfully, feloniously and fraudulently embezzle, convert and appropriate the said two hundred and fifty dollars so secured to his (the said Cornelius 0’Brian’s) own use, without the consent of the said Michael Ward—contrary to the form, force and effect of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the People of the State of California.”

Appellant demurred to the information upon the following grounds: 1. That the court had no jurisdiction of the offense charged; 2. That the information does not substantially conform to the requirements of sections 950, 951 and 952 of the Penal Code; 3. That more than one offense is charged; 4. That the facts stated do not constitute a public offense. The demurrer to the information was overruled.

*644 After conviction, and before sentence was pronounced, the defendant moved in arrest of judgment upon all the grounds set forth in the demurrer, and two additional grounds, namely: 1. That the information contains matters which, if true, would constitute a legal justification or excuse of the offense, and a legal bar to the prosecution; and 2. That it does not appear from the information that the offense was committed in Sacramento county.

The motion in arrest of judgment was by the court denied, and sentence pronounced, hence this appeal.

The evidence is not brought up, and the only question presented to the court for its consideration is the sufficiency of the information. Section 507 of the Penal Code, under which the foregoing information was framed, provides that “every person intrusted with any property as bailee, tenant, or lodger, or with any power of attorney for the sale or transfer thereof, who fraudulently converts the same, or the proceeds thereof to his own use, or secretes it, or them, with a fraudulent intent to convert to his own use, is guilty of embezzlement.” It is contended that the information is insufficient, in that it fails to allege that the defendant was acting as agent, or in any other confidential capacity toward Ward, when he received the money which he is charged with having embezzled, or that the money was the property of Ward, and that he is not charged with having embezzled the certificate of deposit. It is alleged that Ward was the owner of the certificate of deposit payable to himself; that he intrusted the same to the defendant as bailee; that it was of the value of $250, lawful money of the United States; that he had cashed it, received and took into his care and control as the proceeds thereof the said sum of $250 in lawful money of the United States, for and on account of said Ward, and that he fraudulently converted the said sum of $250 so received by him to his own use without the consent of said Ward. It having been alleged in the language of the statute that the defendant received the certificate of deposit as bailee, it was not necessary for the pleader to allege the nature of the bailment, nor the particulars or circumstances thereof. As was said in People v. Gordon, 133 Cal. 328, [85 Am. St. Rep. 174, 65 Pac. 746], and affirmed in People v. Goodrich, *645 142 Cal. 216, [75 Pac. 796] : “The essential elements of embezzlement are the fiduciary relations arising where one intrusts property fo another, and the fraudulent appropriation of the property by the latter. The origin or particulars of the relation need not be stated.” Stating that the property was intrusted to defendant as bailee sufficiently showed the creation of a fiduciary relation, and it was not necessary to allege the circumstances of the felonious conversion.

The fact that the defendant is charged with having embezzled the money instead of the certificate will not, in our opinion, avail him. The money was the proceeds of the certificate, and came into his care by reason of his cashing it, and since it is provided by said section 507 of the Penal Code that “every person who embezzles property intrusted to him or the proceeds thereof, is guilty of embezzlement,” he is, in either event, liable.

The statement that Ward was the owner of the certificate at the time he intrusted it to the defendant, that defendant cashed it and received the proceeds thereof, coupled with the allegation that he did so for and on account of Ward, is a sufficient allegation of Ward’s ownership of the money.

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People v. O'Brian, 97 P. 679, 8 Cal. App. 641, 1908 Cal. App. LEXIS 275 (Cal. Ct. App. 1908).

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