Synes v. State

78 Fla. 167
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJuly 29, 1919
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 78 Fla. 167 (Synes v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Synes v. State, 78 Fla. 167 (Fla. 1919).

Opinion

Elms, J.

— The plaintiff in error and Jacque Cartridge were informed against in the Criminal Court of Record for Orange County for the larceny of an automobile alleged to be the property of C. D. Christ. There were five counts to the information. The first charged the defendants jointly with the larceny of the car; the second charged Jacque Cartridge as principal and John Sykes as accessory before and after the fact; the third charged Sykes as principal and Cartridge as accessory before and after the fact; the fourth charged John Doe an unknown person as principal and Cartridge and Sykes as accessories before and after the fate, and the fifth charged John Doe, an unknown person, as principal and Cartridge and Sykes as accessories after the fact. It was alleged that the car was stolen in Orange County on the 27th day of December, 1918. The plaintiff in error was placed on trial in March, 1919, and was found guilty as charged in the first count of the information. The judgment of the court was as follows: “John Sykes, you will please stand up. Have you anything to say why the judgment of the court should not be passed upon you, and the said defendant having nothing to say, it is the sentence of the law and judgment -of the court that you, John Sykes, for [169]*169tlie offense of which you have been found guilty, pay a fine of |2,000.00 and costs, and in default thereof that you be confined in the State penitentiary of the State of Florida for the term of eighteen months, the defendant, John Sykes, being then and there present.”

The sentence was erroneous in that the primary punishment imposed being a fine and costs only, the court should have fixed a period of imprisonment in the county jail instead of the penitentiary on non-payment of the fine. See Section 4011, Gen. Stats. 1906; Thompson v. State, 52 Fla. 113, 41 South. Rep. 899; Dean v. State, 41 Fla. 291, 26 South. Rep. 638; Douglass v. State, 53 Fla. 27, 43 South. Rep. 424; Bueno v. State, 40 Fla. 160, 23 South. Rep. 862; Eggart v. State, 40 Fla. 527, 25 South. Rep. 144; Enson v. State, 58 Fla. 37, 50 South. Rep. 948; Taylor v. State, 67 Fla. 127, 64 South. Rep. 454.

The plaintiff in error seeks a reversal of the judgment upon the grounds that the verdict is not supported by the evidence; that the trial court erred in refusing certain instructions requested in behalf of the defendant below ; in admitting certain evidence and overruling the motion for a new trial. The motion for a new trial contains forty-eight grounds; all of them, however, are not discussed. Those grounds which are discussed in the brief present questions of the admissibility of certain statements, admissions or confessions of the defendant, Sykes, and of the defendant, Cartridge, made in the presence of Sykes after the two had been arrested, concerning their possession of the car shortly after it had been stolen; the contents of a certain bill of sale for the automoblie which the defendant, Cartridge, held and the propriety of the argument of the County Solicitor in commenting upon the failure of the defendant, Sykes, [170]*170to testify concerning certain matters of fact to which other witnesses had testified and which the solicitor seemed to regard as incriminating, if not explained.

It appears from the evidence that the automobile which was alleged to have been stolen was the property of Dr. C. D. Christ; that when the car was taken it was in a shop occupied by N. Hudson, a painter and decorator, to whom Dr. Christ had taken the car to be painted, and who had “charge of the car” at the time. Mr. Hudson saw the car in his place of business about 6 o’clock on the night of December 26th, 1918. On the morning of December 27th, the car was gone. Dr. Christ said nothing about authorizing any one to remove the car from the shop, nor that he had not given possession to any one to' do so, but did say the car was in charge of Mr. Hudson at the time. Dr. Christ was asked if he lost a car on or about the 26th or 27th of December, and replied in the affirmative. The testimony of Mr. Hudson on this subject was that he saw the car “about 6 o’clock on the night of the 26th, on Thursday night;” that he did not move the car from Ms place of business after 6 o’clock that night; that his “place” was not locked at the time he left it on the night of the 26th, and that he did not of his own knowledge know "how*” the car was taken from his place or who took it from there.

This was all the evidence offered by the State as to the unlawful taking of the car. If Mr. Hudson had charge of the car, a removal of it from his shop with his consent would not have been unlawful so far as the taker was- concerned if the latter had no purpose of committing theft. If therefore the car was taken with Mr. Hudson’s consent, from his shop that night, and the taker had no design to commit theft of the car at the time of the taking, it would be necessary for the State to show when the design to steal [171]*171the car developed in the taker in order to establish his criminality as thief or embezzler. See Wilson v. State, 47 Fla. 118, 36 South. Rep. 580.

A bailee who has lawful’ possession cannot commit larceny. But one who obtains possession of personal property by trick, device or fraud with intent to appropriate the property to his own use, the owner or custodian intending to part with possession only commits- larceny Avhen he subsequently appropriates it. See Finlayson v. State, 46 Fla. 81, 35 South. Éep. 203. ’

In the Wilson case, supra, the court held that if the original taking was innocent, but the felonious intent was formed after the possession was innocently acquired, the offense committed, was embezzlement. See Neal v. State, 55 Fla. 140, 46 South. Rep. 845.

• The testimony of Mr. Hudson does not exclude the idea of a lawful taking of the property from the shop by some person whose name is not disclosed, or by the defendant, Sykes. That Mr. Hudson did not know of Ms own knowledge who took the car from the shop or How it was taken from the place may be entirely true and yet perfectly consistent with consent upon his part to its removal. And Mr. Hudson’s possible consent to its removal may have been entirely without criminality on his part, or on the part of the person or persons who may have obtained his consent.

Mr. Hudson was asked whether he gave his consent to any one to tie removal of the car that night from the shop, whether it was taken therefrom without his knowledge or consent. His reply was, “I went there at 7 o’clock the next morning and the car was gone.” That statement may have been true and yet perfectly consistent with permission from him to remove the car.’The [172]*172unlawful taking is an essential ingredient of the crime of larceny. There are no presumptions against the defendant. Every essential element- of the crime charged must be established against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt before a conviction is warranted. To have arrived at the verdict of guilty in this case the jury must have assumed that the automobile was taken from the shop of Mr. Hudson without his consent directly or indirectly given, notwithstanding he declined to answer the question directly put to him that would have settled the point. No attention was paid to the evasive .answer, and this essential element of the crime charged was left to supposition, conjecture, presumption.

Assuming that the car was stolen from the shop, that is to say that some person without Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
78 Fla. 167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/synes-v-state-fla-1919.