State v. Bullis

196 Iowa 480
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 3, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 196 Iowa 480 (State v. Bullis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bullis, 196 Iowa 480 (iowa 1923).

Opinion

Stevens, J.

1- ^tolen^oods: e-Mdence. I. The stolen property described in the indictment, with other property that had been stolen, consisting of men’s wearing apparel, was seized by the officers, under a search warrant therefor, in a story and a half residence located on the Lena Snyder farm, four miles northeast of Council Bluffs, which she had leased, in the March preceding, to the defendant, who had taken the name of Bennett. The seizure of the men’s wearing apparel [482]*482was preceded by a search of the premises for intoxicating liquors, the same afternoon, by Elmer Knotts, 'a Federal prohibition agent, Elmer Lane, deputy city marshal of Council Bluffs, H. H. Morgan and Robert Murray, special agents of the Northwestern Railway Company, and Ralph Jones, a special agent of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, under a warrant for that purpose. The above named searching party arrived at the premises about 2:30 in the afternoon of October 14, 1921, where they found one man sleeping in an automobile near by, and 'three men and one woman in the house, and one just coming out, with a gun in his hand. The names of these parties, so far as shown by the record, were Tierney, Brown, Thomas, King, and Eva King, his wife. The five men were assembled in the living room, disarmed, and placed in the custody of Lane, while the search for intoxicating liquors was being made. Three guns of large caliber were taken from the men in the house. Lane stepped into the kitchen for some purpose, and was almost immediately fired upon by King, from the stairway- door, the bullet taking effect in his shoulder. He ran from the house, pursued by King and shot at by one of the other men. King was killed just outside of the house, and Murray in the bedroom. Another of the desperadoes was severely wounded. The fight lasted about three quarters of an hour. The defendant was not at the house when the searching party arrived, nor during the encounter, but was met leading a horse in the highway near a lane leading therefrom, a quarter of a mile from the house. The defendant and Mrs. King were arrested in Council Bluffs the same evening. A further search of the premises was made the following day, and an acetylene outfit taken from a haystack belonging to the defendant. .The acetylene outfit had been stolen, a short time before, from the yards of the Northwestern Railway Company in Council Bluffs. In addition to introducing evidence of all of the above matters, the State was permitted to introduce the guns, taken from the desperadoes, the acetylene outfit, all of the stolen property, and the clothing worn by Murray at the time he was killed. The admissibility of substantially all of the above testimony was challenged by counsel for the defendant, and the alleged failure of the State to connect him with the larceny or concealment of [483]*483the stolen property was made one of the. grounds of a motion, at the close of the State’s evidence, to direct a verdict in his favor.

It was proper for the State to show the character of the premises from which the stolen property was taken, and of those found in the possession thereof. The house was evidently a rendezvous of desperate criminals. All of the clothing seized by the officers was identified by the merchants from whose stores it had been stolen in the nighttime by someone who had broken and entered the storeroom in which it was kept. The court might well have excluded the offer of the clothing taken from the body of Murray, and of the guns; but the admission thereof, if erroneous, in view of the admissible testimony as to what occurred at the house, was clearly without prejudice. The presence of the stolen property in the house and haystack was in no manner explained. The court properly permitted the State to show everything that occurred at the house, as bearing upon its character as a place where stolen property was received and concealed. State v. Robinson, 170 Iowa 267; State v. Minella, 177 Iowa 283; State v. Bigelow, 101 Iowa 430.

2. B]~OMVXNG STOLEN GOODS: evidence. II. The merchants from whom the clothing was stolen were permitted to describe the condition of the building the morning after the larceny. This testimony was also objected to. Evidence that the larceny was accomplished by breakiitg and entering the storerooms, and of the facts tending to establish the burglary, was clearly admissible. Section 4845, Code; State v. Lane, 68 Iowa 384.

3. OI~I~IINiL LAW: successive offenses: certified~ copies. III. The indictment also charged the defendant with being a habitual criminal. The warden of the Nebraska state penitentiary was permitted to testify that the defendant had been twice convicted of felonies, and confined in the penitentiary in that state for more than three years, under assumed flames. One of the original commitments was also introduced, as were certified transcripts of the judgments in each of the prosecutions against the defendant in Nebraska. In addition to the above testimony, a certified transcript of the judgment of his conviction of a felony in the state of, South Dakota was introduced.

[484]*484Certified transcripts of the judgments of defendant’s in other states are admissible in evidence in a prosecution of this kind. Section 5091-b, Supplement to the Code, 1913; State v. Dowden, 137 Iowa 573. The objections urged -to the admission of the above testimony were properly overruled. The warden had personal knowledge of the defendant’s incarceration in the Nebraska state penitentiary. Furthermore, the testimony relating to the defendant’s convictions in Nebraska and South Dakota was corroborated by defendant’s admission thereof.

4. R~OEIVING stolen goods: evidence: sutficieney. IV, No direct evidence of the defendant’s connection with the larceny of the stolen property, or of knowledge upon his part that the same was concealed in the house, was introduced by the State. It did, however, show that the defeudant leased the premises in 1921, under the name of Bennett; that he was frequently about the house and upon the farm, engaged in farm work; that he arranged with a neighbor to put up the hay on shares; that he was often in company with Mrs. King and with some or all of the men who were present at the time of the search; that he claimed that King was his Brother-in-law; that he drove a Ford car and a Ford truck; that he was at and in the house, the day preceding his arrest. The premises were under his dominion and control, as lessee, and the jury was fully warranted, from the above and other circumstances, iii finding that the stolen property was concealed in the house with his knowledge of all the facts. The motion to direct a verdict was properly overruled.

The other ridings of the court complained of relate to the instructions given and to the refusal to give others requested by the defendant.

V. Complaint is made of the refusal of the court to give requested Instructions 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Instruction No. 1 was a mere cautionary instruction, the giving or refusal of which was largely discretionary with the court. Requested Instruction No. 4 related to circumstantial evidence. The evidence of the State was by no means wholly circumstantial, and the instruction in the form in which it was presented was properly refused. The court might properly have given some parts of [485]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Post
123 N.W.2d 11 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1963)
State v. Bolds
55 N.W.2d 534 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1952)
Barr v. State
187 N.E. 259 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1933)
State v. Merkin
198 Iowa 900 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1924)
State v. Bige
198 Iowa 573 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
196 Iowa 480, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bullis-iowa-1923.