People v. Page

48 P. 326, 116 Cal. 386, 1897 Cal. LEXIS 559
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedApril 1, 1897
DocketCrim. No. 189
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 48 P. 326 (People v. Page) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Page, 48 P. 326, 116 Cal. 386, 1897 Cal. LEXIS 559 (Cal. 1897).

Opinion

Belcher, C.

defendant was convicted of the crime of embezzlement, and has appealed from the order denying his motion for a new trial, and from the final judgment entered against him.

The indictment was filed May 29, 1895, and after stating the jurisdictional facts it charged that on or about the twenty-eighth day of May, 1895, the defendant, [390]*390“ being then and there intrusted with and having in his control the sum of $4,362 in lawful money of the United States, .... as guardian, trustee, and agent of one Louis Lichtneger, an insane person, for the use and benefit of said Louis Lichtneger, then and there the property of and belonging to said Louis Lichtneger, did then and there, to wit, at said city and county of San Francisco, on or about said twenty-eighth day of May, 1895, willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and fraudulently embezzle, convert, and appropriate the same to his own use, contrary,” etc.

When called upon to plead, defendant moved the court to set aside the indictment upon the grounds: 1. That the said indictment was not found, indorsed, nor presented as prescribed in the Penal Code; 2. That the names of the witnesses examined before the grand jury, or -whose depositions were read before the grand jury, were not inserted at the foot of the indictment, nor indorsed thereon; 3. That a person, not a member of the grand jury, nor judge of the court, nor the district attorney, was permitted to be present during the session of the grand jury, and when the charge embraced in the indictment was under consideration, contrary to the provisions of section 925 of the Penal Code,

The motion was denied, and thereupon the defendant demurred to the indictment upon the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a public offense. The demurrer was overruled, and the defendant then pleaded “not guilty.”

1. The indictment was found by a properly impaneled grand jury, and in our opinion was sufficient in form. It was drawn substantially in the language of section 506 of the Penal Code, which declares that “Every trustee .... intrusted with or having in his control property for the use of any other person, who fraudulently appropriates it to any use or purpose not in the due and lawful execution of his trust, .... is guilty of embezzlement.”

[391]*391The defendant was a trustee of his ward (Civ. Code, sec. 250), and under the provisions of the section above quoted, the indictment was authorized and found.

Indictments framed in the language of the statute defining the offense charged have been held sufficient so many times by this court that we deem it unnecessary to cite the cases.

It is true that an indictment must contain “ a statement of the acts constituting the offense, in ordinary and concise language, and in such manner as to enable a person of common understanding to know what is intended.” (Pen. Code, sec. 950.)

The indictment here was sufficient to meet the requirements of the statute, and it was not necessary, as claimed for appellant, to allege the date of his “ appointment as guardian and in what court appointed, as well as the issue of letters of guardianship to him and the fact of his taking possession of certain moneys of bis ward; the fact of his filing his account and the settlement thereof; the fact that he was incapable of discharging his trust or unsuitable therefor, or had wasted or mismanaged the estate, and that the court upon due notice given had removed him and had demanded that he should surrender the estate of his ward to the person found to be lawfully entitled thereto.”

2. “ The grand jury is not bound to hear evidence for the defendant, but it is their duty to weigh all the evidence submitted to them, and, when they have reason to believe that other evidence within their reach •will explain away the charge, they should order such evidence to be produced.” (Pen. Code, sec. 920.)

It is shown that the defendant appeared as a witness before the grand jury finding the aforesaid indictment, and testified before said body, he not then and there being informed of his legal rights as a defendant witness, and that his name as such witness does not appear among the names of witnesses upon said indictment.” It is not shown, however, and there is nothing in the record to indicate, that he did not voluntarily appear [392]*392before the grand jury and voluntarily give all the evidence elicited from him.

In People v. King, 28 Cal. 273, it is said: “So far as the motion was based upon the ground that the defendant had testified against himself before the grand jury is concerned, it is only necessary to say that we know of no rule of law which made it illegal for him to testify if he felt inclined to do so, nor do we know of any rule of law which makes the voluntary testimony of the defendant before the grand jury a ground for setting aside the indictment.” And we may add that we know of no rule of law which made it the duty of the foreman, or any member of the grand jury, to inform the defendant of his right to consult counsel before testifying. Besides, the defendant was himself an attorney at law, and had served a term as district attorney of the city and county of San Francisco, and must be presumed to have known what his rights and privileges were as a witness.

It is not claimed that any person not a member of the grand jury was present at the session when the charge embraced in the indictment was under consideration, except the defendant himself while he was being examined as a witness. It is true that the name of defendant, as a witness, was not inserted at the foot of the indictment or indorsed thereon, but it was not necessary that it should be. In People v. Northey, 77 Cal. 618, it was expressly decided that if the defendant has testified before the grand jury, it is not necessary to indorse his name upon the indictment as a witness, and the failure to do so is not ground of motion to set aside the indictment.

It follows that the court did not err in refusing to set aside the indictment or in overruling the demurrer.

3. The most serious question in the case is that relating to the sufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict.

The facts proved were as follows: Oh January 3,1891, the defendant, who was then the district attorney of the city and county of San Francisco, was duly appointed [393]*393guardian of the estate of Louis Lichtneger, an insane person, and upon giving the bond required by the court, letters of guardianship were duly issued to him. On April 4, 1891, an order was made by the court that he file his account. This order was not complied with until May 4, 1894, when he filed an account, showing that of the money received by him as guardian, he paid in June, 1892, to the asylum at Agnews $190, and hada balance due the estate of $3,776.92. When defendant was appointed guardian there was on deposit in the German Savings and Loan Society of San Francisco to the credit of Lichtneger the sum of $3,561.01. Of this sum and the interest that accúmulated thereon, defendant, as guardian, drew out of the bank from time to time all but $51; the first draft for $353 being made on April 24, 1891, and the last for $49.27 being made on September 7, 1892.

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Bluebook (online)
48 P. 326, 116 Cal. 386, 1897 Cal. LEXIS 559, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-page-cal-1897.