State v. Janks

144 P. 779, 26 Idaho 567, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 96
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 17, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 144 P. 779 (State v. Janks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Janks, 144 P. 779, 26 Idaho 567, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 96 (Idaho 1914).

Opinion

TRUITT, J.

The defendant, William C. Janks, was convicted in the lower court of the crime of buying and receiving stolen property for his own gain, knowing the same to have been stolen, and was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of not less than six months and not more than five years, and to pay the costs of the prosecution. From this judgment and from the order denying the motion for a new trial defendant appeals to this court.

The errors relied upon for the reversal of said judgment of conviction as presented by the brief of appellant are as follows:

‘ ‘ 1st. The overruling of the demurrer to the information.
“2d. Overruling defendant’s motion to advise the jury to acquit the defendant when the state rested, and refusing to so advise the jury.
“3d. Giving to the jury over defendant’s exceptions erroneous instructions.
“4th. The insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict.
‘ ‘ 5th. Errors in admission of evidence.
[570]*570“ 6th. Error in overruling motion for a new trial. ’ ’

The statute upon which this prosecution is based is sec. 7057, Rev. Codes, and reads as follows:

“Every person who, for his own gain, or to prevent the owner from again possessing his property, buys or receives any personal property, knowing the same to have been stolen, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding five years, or in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment. ’ ’

The charging part of the information is as follows:

“The said William C. Janks, Charley Janks, and J. S. Kirkbride, on or about the 18th day of November, 1912, in the county of Twin Falls, state of Idaho, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully, knowingly, and feloniously and for his own gain, buy and receive one red steer, branded half circle six on left ribs, and of the personal property of H. P. Larsen, and one white-faced cow, branded half circle six on left ribs, and of the personal property of said H. P. Larsen, said William C. Janks, Charley Janks and J. S. Kirkbride then and there well knowing the said steer and cow to have been stolen. ’ ’

The first error named in the foregoing' list of errors relied upon by appellant was not urged except as to one point, which is that the information charges three persons with receiving the property jointly, but if the property was not received jointly and one received it from another, then each receiving would constitute a separate offense and could not stand in the same information. It is claimed that the information should set out how these three persons received the property, that is, whether it was received by them jointly or severally. This point does not appear to have been raised by the defendant’s demurrer to the information in the court below. The grounds for demurrer, as specifically stated therein, are that the information does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action in this, that the information does not show that the property was stolen before it was received} that it does not show that the property had been [571]*571stolen within the jurisdiction of the court; and that it does not show who stole the property, or from whom the defendants received it. We do not think it necessary to pass upon the question of whether or not this objection to the information could have been raised by demurrer in the court below or not, for the record shows that it was not raised there, and we think it is not such an objection as could be heard in this court for the first time. Moreover, before the trial of the cause in the lower court, this defendant asked for and was granted a separate trial so that we fail to see how he was in any way prejudiced by this fault or ambiguity in the information. In order to convict the defendant of buying and receiving the property described in the information, the jury must have found that the crime charged was attributable to him individually. Counsel for appellant have not even suggested, either in the brief or by oral argument, that the defendant in the court bélow was in any manner prejudiced by this defect or ambiguity in the information. We think the contention as to this point is without merit.

Substantially the same question is presented by the second and fourth assignments of error. They both are based upon the insufficiency of the evidence to convict the defendant, and we think may for this reason be considered together in whatever we may feel called upon to say upon the question presented by them.

The third objection relates to alleged errors of the trial court in its instructions to the jury. These instructions are very long, being divided into thirty-three numbered paragraphs and covering thirty-three pages of the transcript. We mention this because we think it has some bearing upon the question as to whether a defective instruction or an erroneous instruction is cured by subsequent instructions correcting such defect or error. If there were only a few tersely stated principles of law given as instructions, there would be less chance for the jury to be confused or misled, if the law was not correctly or fully stated in one or more paragraphs of the first part of the instructions, although subsequently corrected, than where so many are given. The [572]*572appellant in the third specification of error argues that the instructions from one to eight, inclusive, were erroneous and prejudicial to the defendant.

The first of these instructions is as follows:

“Instruction No. 1: You are instructed, gentlemen of the jury, that the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt all of the material allegations of the information which are as follows: First, that the property set forth in the information was stolen; second; that the defendant in this case purchased or received such property of his own knowledge knowing the same to have been stolen; and, third, that such property was purchased or received by the defendants as hereinbefore defined, in the county of Twin Falls, state of Idaho, at the time set forth and alleged in the information herein, to wit: on or about the 18th day of November, 1912: Regarding the first essential herein set forth, to wit: the fact that such property was stolen, it is not essential that the thief must have been convicted or that the name of the person from whom such property was stolen should be proven; and in this connection you are instructed that the larceny of such property, and consequently the fact that such property was stolen, may be proven by the unexplained possession of recently stolen property, this being a fact and circumstance from which the jury may infer that the property was in fact stolen.

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Related

State v. Major
725 P.2d 115 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Davis
65 P.2d 1385 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1937)
State v. McCarty
272 P. 695 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1928)
State v. Smith
164 P. 519 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1917)
Kasle v. United States
233 F. 878 (Sixth Circuit, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 P. 779, 26 Idaho 567, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 96, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-janks-idaho-1914.