People v. Thorne

111 N.W. 741, 148 Mich. 203, 1907 Mich. LEXIS 508
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedApril 30, 1907
DocketDocket No. 144
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 111 N.W. 741 (People v. Thorne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan 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. Thorne, 111 N.W. 741, 148 Mich. 203, 1907 Mich. LEXIS 508 (Mich. 1907).

Opinions

Hooker, J.

The defendant was convicted of and sentenced for the offense of statutory larceny, under section 11570, 3 Comp. Laws, which provides that;

“(11570) Sec. 34. If any person to whom any money, goods, or other property which may be the subject of larceny, shall have been delivered, shall embezzle or fraudulently convert to his own use, or shall secrete with the intent to embezzle, or fraudulently use such goods, money, or other property, or any part thereof, he shall be [205]*205deemed by so doing to have committed the crime of larceny.”

The complaining witness was a Miss Packard, who testified that the defendant importuned her to allow him to purchase for her a thousand shares of Gold Coin mining stock, at 75 cents a share, which he stated to be the bottom price for the stock, and she gave him #750 for that purpose. He told her that the stock would come in his name, with several thousand more shares of the same stock, and he reiterated the statement after the purchase by saying that he had received said larger number of shares. The testimony shows that only 1,000 shares were sent, and they came in his name, through a bank, and with a collection account of $370 against them. He never paid all of this collection, and never received or delivered the stoek, although she frequently asked him to do so.. It was claimed that Miss Packard’s conduct and dealings with him in relation to this matter established the relation of debtor and creditor, and that this was inconsistent with his guilt, and made it the duty of the court to direct a verdict of acquittal. It was also claimed that there was nothing in the case indicating concealment, or a felonious disposition, apparently upon the theory that his free admission at all times that the stock was at the bank subject to collection charges showed an absence of both.

We are of the opinion that the court did not err in sending the question to the jury. The evidences of misrepresentation regarding the stock as an inducement to Miss Packard to purchase, the indication that all of her money was not required, or used in paying for the stock, lead to a justifiable inference that he converted it to other purposes, with a fraudulent intent, and, if so, the offense was complete, and what the relations of the parties became afterward could not change that fact, though they might tend to rebut such inference.

Statement of the Prosecutor.

Error is assigned upon the statement of the prosecuting [206]*206officer that “if we go into that, I shall want to show this jury that he got $12,000 of this woman’s money, of her mother’s money, and all she had to show for it is his personal notes and bill of sale.” This statement came about in this way: Upon cross-examination of the complaining witness, defendant’s counsel showed that, as treasurer of the Wolverine Leather Company, she signed a testimonial of character and ability, commendatory of the defendant, and he examined her at length about it. She attempted to explain that she knew it was untrue, but did it out of commiseration for his wife and baby, and that she said to the defendant at the time: “What would people think of me signing anything like that, after what he had swindled me out of ?” etc. Defendant’s counsel extracted from her the statement that he swindled her out of money in connection with the affairs of the leather company in which a large investment by her was lost.. The dialogue continued as follows:

“A. His expense account there was overdrawn $700 in three months.
Q. Didn’t you sign a release, as an officer of that company, releasing Mr. Thorne from liability in that company, in consideration of certain services that he had rendered in organizing the company ?
Mr. Bumps: I object to the question.
The Court: No; I think I will allow the answer now, Brother Bumps, in view of the questions and the statement she made on the stand. I was in hopes that this entire matter could be kept out of this case.
Mr. Bartlett: No, your honor; the defense is perfectly willing to go into every phase of this case.
The Court: I don’t care, Mr. Bartlett, what the defense is willing to do. I believe it only just to the defendant to have her give her answer to that question. Read the question again, Mr. Reporter. (Question read.)
“A. I released — the release I signed called for the $750 or over $700; that was it, of his expense account that he had overdrawn; that was the release I signed.
“Mr. Bartlett: Now, perhaps, this will refresh your recollection, Miss Packard. I offer this in evidence.
The Court: I think I will let it in now, in view of the statement.
[207]*207“Mr. Bumps: He drew it out himself, your honor. I did not ask it. He was fishing for incompetent testimony, and he got it in. Now he wants to contradict it. I object to it.
“ Mr. Bartlett: Nothing of the kind. Your witness made a statement that Mr. Thorne had swindled her out of several thousand dollars.
The Court: Just a moment, Mr. Bartlett.
Mr. Bumps: If we go into that, your honor, I cannot see any place to stop. If we go into that, I shall want to show this jury that he got $13,000 of this woman’s money, and of her mother’s money, and all she has got to show for it is personal notes and a bill of sale.
“Mr. Bartlett: You cannot show anything of the kind. I object to Mr. Bumps making a statement of anything of that kind.
The Court: Just a moment now. Proceed with the cross-examination, Mr. Bartlett. The object of offering this testimony at the present time is to refute a statement made by the witness on the stand that the respondent had swindled her out of money in connection with the Wolverine Leather Company, and now counsel for defendant desires at this time to submit to the jury a statement signed by this witness in relation to that very same matter, and the court believes it proper and just at this time that he should be permitted to have that statement.
Mr. Bumps: The whole matter, I move that that whole subject, be stricken from the record as incompetent and immaterial.
“The Court: I would cheerfully do that my Brother Bumps, but I have no power to strike from the minds of these jurors whatever impression the complaining witness may have made on them when she made that statement.
“Mr. Bartlett: I think that statement was entirely improper for a witness to make.
“The Court: Now, Mr. Bartlett, the prosecuting attorney and I are discussing it. You got your question and answer from the witness. It was a question you asked for, and you got an answer to it.”

The cross-examination continues through several pages of the record, and before it was through counsel had succeeded in getting before the jury enough of the Wolverine Leather Company transaction to show that her claim regarding his conduct was not altogether groundless.

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Related

People v. Moore
204 N.W.2d 737 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1972)
People v. Stuart
299 N.W. 117 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1941)
State v. Cavanaugh
236 N.W. 96 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1931)
People v. Andrews
229 N.W. 401 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1930)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
111 N.W. 741, 148 Mich. 203, 1907 Mich. LEXIS 508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-thorne-mich-1907.