State v. Doolittle

113 P.2d 94, 153 Kan. 608, 1941 Kan. LEXIS 180
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMay 10, 1941
DocketNo. 35,096
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 113 P.2d 94 (State v. Doolittle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Doolittle, 113 P.2d 94, 153 Kan. 608, 1941 Kan. LEXIS 180 (kan 1941).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Thiele, J.:

This is an appeal in a criminal action.

In his brief appellant presents six propositions wherein he con[609]*609tends there was error. Preliminary to a discussion of the alleged errors, it may be said the evidence disclosed that one W. R. Riggs was engaged in the business of selling various types of food products to merchants in a number of counties in Kansas, his head office being in Wichita. Appellant was employed by Riggs as a salesman-driver to cover certain territory, and was furnished with a stock of goods at Independence from which he supplied the merchants to whom he made sales. In the course of his employment he used a truck and made deliveries as the merchandise was sold. He was furnished' with a price list at which various articles were to be sold, deviation therefrom being permitted only for quantity sales. When a sale was made a sales ticket was prepared showing items and costs and whether the goods were sold for cash or on credit, copies of these tickets being sent daily to Riggs at Wichita. All moneys and checks for goods sold were to be deposited daily in a designated bank in Independence. Appellant was authorized to endorse checks for deposit only. His wages were paid to him by Riggs from Wichita. The evidence showed that appellant in instances sold goods at prices below the list price, and after leaving the merchant’s place of business he would alter the sales ticket to be returned to Riggs to show he had sold at the listed price; that in instances he would sell goods for cash which he collected and would return to Riggs altered tickets showing that the goods had been sold on credit. Appellant contended that he used the money thus obtained to apply to the shortage occasioned by selling goods below list price, and that although credits had not been made to the proper accounts that in the aggregate he had deposited in the bank every cent which he had collected from all the merchants to whom he sold. There was also evidence that he had cashed checks instead of depositing them in the bank. His explanation was that he cashed them in order to make change. Ultimately Riggs turned over to a third person for collection a number of accounts of merchants apparently owing him and shortly thereafter appellant wrote Riggs a letter stating his health was bad and because he had played the part of a fool it was necessary that relations be severed. Riggs met appellant and appellant then went over the accounts as prepared in Riggs’ office, at which time appel-ant indicated which accounts were good and which were bad, the evidence as abstracted not showing why any accounts were not good, but showing an apparent shortage of over $1,300. Later Riggs and appellant inventoried the stock of merchandise. Thereafter prosecu-[610]*610lion was commenced, the information containing two counts, the first charging embezzlement of $1,665.25 in money and the second charging embezzlement of merchandise worth $774.61. The jury found appellant guilty on the first count and not guilty on the second count. It is to be observed there is no contention that the evidence does not support the verdict, nor that any evidence was improperly received.

Appellant’s first contention is that under the information charging embezzlement of $1,665.25, the jury might have found appellant guilty of embezzling less than $20 (G. S. 1935, 62-1023); that the verdict did not specify the grade or degree of the offense as required by statute (G. S. 1935, 62-1502), and therefore is insufficient. The verdict returned recited the jury found defendant “guilty of embezzlement, all in the manner and form charged by the first count of the information.” The question does not seem to have been presented to the trial court on the hearing of the motion for a new trial, nor did the motion for a new trial include it as a ground. We shall, however, notice the matter briefly. The particular point is that a finding of guilty “as charged in the information” is fatally defective where under the information it would have been possible for the jury to have found a lesser degree of felony or of a misdemeanor. Appellant directs our attention to State v. Treadwell, 54 Kan. 513, 38 Pac. 813; State v. Pickering, 57 Kan. 326, 46 Pac. 314; State v. Pettys, 61 Kan. 860, 60 Pac. 735, and other citations, all of which tend to uphold his contention. In a series of later habeas corpus cases, this court has held that in interpreting the verdict in a criminal case there is no reason why the court should not make use of anything in the record that tends to show with certainty what the jury intended. See, e. g., In re Mooney, 89 Kan. 690, 132 Pac. 217, and Hodison v. Rogers, 137 Kan. 950, 22 P. 2d 491, and cases cited. The record as abstracted discloses the trial court expressly instructed the jury it was not necessary for the state to prove the exact amount alleged, and—

“If you find from the evidence that the defendant did embezzle an amount over $20 in value in the maimer alleged and charged in the information, then you will be justified in finding him guilty as charged, and if you find from the evidence that the defendant embezzled an amount under the value of $20 in the manner and form alleged in the information, then and in that event, you would be justified in finding him guilty of embezzlement of an amount under the value of $20.”

[611]*611The record also discloses the trial court submitted to the jury three forms of verdict, one specifically covering embezzlement of an amount less than twenty dollars, one finding defendant not guilty, and the third which the jury returned. In view of the record which clearly discloses the jury intended to find the amount of the embezzlement was over twenty dollars, and the further fact there is no contention the evidence did not sustain such a verdict, the appellant’s contention the verdict is fatally defective cannot be sustained. The error, if any, does not compel a reversal. (G. S. 1935, 62-1718). . .

Appellant’s next contention is that the trial court did not permit him to include in his opening statement his attempted defense. We find some difficulty in discussing appellant’s contention, for the so-called defense as attempted to be stated pertained to the second count, on which he was found not guilty. Insofar as the first count is concerned, the record as abstracted does not disclose anything unless it be that appellant’s operations made him guilty of the second rather than the first count. In his argument, however, some stress is laid on the claim that appellant paid into the bank every cent that he collected, that he personally kept none of it, and that the state’s proof did not show to the contrary, and our attention is directed to the authorities tending to show that to constitute embezzlement the accused must have applied the property to his own use, and it is argued that because ultimately appellant accounted for all he collected there was no embezzlement. The argument ignores appellants’s own testimony that he sold goods for cash, reported to his employer that he sold the same on credit, and used the cash to cover the shortage occasioned by his selling merchandise at less than the list prices and as reported to his employer by him. That was an application to his own use; the fact he did not ultimately profit was immaterial. The matter is controlled by the reasoning of State v. Pratt, 114 Kan. 660, 220 Pac. 505, where it was said:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
113 P.2d 94, 153 Kan. 608, 1941 Kan. LEXIS 180, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-doolittle-kan-1941.