People v. Moore
People v. Moore
Opinion of the Court
The defendant J. W. Moore was convicted in the superior court of Mendocino County of the crime of obtaining property by false pretenses, and. prosecutes this appeal from the judgment and order denying his motion for a new trial.
1. Appellant claims that the court erred in overruling his demurrer to the information, the objections to the information being that it is not direct and certain as to the offense charged, and that it fails to disclose any natural or causal connection between the alleged false representations and the delivery of the property to the defendant. The charging part of the information is as follows: “The said defendant J. W. Moore on the 30th day of June, A. D. nineteen hundred and nineteen, at the said Mendocino County, State of California, and before the filing of this information did then and there devising and intending by unlawful ways and means and by false and fraudulent pre *247 tenses and representations to obtain and get into his custody and possession the goods and personal property of W. II. Edmands, with intent to cheat and defraud and thereby then and there willfully and unlawfully, knowingly and designedly, falsely and fraudulently pretend and represent to W. 0. Edmands that he the said J. W. Moore, was then and there buying cattle for Lewis and McDermott, and that he the said J. W. Moore was then and there authorized by the said Lewis and McDermott to negotiate for the purchase of, and to purchase, cattle for said Lewis and McDermott as their agent, whereas in truth and in fact the said J. W. Moore was not buying cattle for the said Lewis and Mc-Dermott, nor anyone acting in their behalf, to negotiate for the purchase of, nor to purchase, cattle as their agent, or otherwise, as he the said J. W. Moore, then and there well knew. And the said W. 0. Edmands then and there believing the said false and fraudulent pretenses and representations so made, as aforesaid by the said J. W. Moore, to be true, and being deceived thereby, was induced by reason of the said false and fraudulent pretenses and representations so made as aforesaid, to deliver, and did then and there deliver to said J. W. Moore fifty head of beef cattle of the value of about Five Thousand Ninety Five and No/100 Dollars lawful money of the United States of America and of the personal property of said W. H. Edmands, and the said J. W. Moore then and there, and by means of the said false and fraudulent representations so made as aforesaid, did then and there willfully and unlawfully, knowingly, designedly and fraudulently receive and obtain from said W. 0. Edmands the said goods and personal property hereinbefore described and set forth, with the intent to cheat and defraud said W. H. Edmands of the same and the said J. W. Moore did then and there willfully, unlawfully and fraudulently take and carry away the same. Whereas in truth and in fact the said pretenses and representations so made as aforesaid was and were then and there in all respects utterly false and untrue and fraudulent and whereas in truth and in fact the said defendant J. W. Moore well knew the said pretenses and representations so made by himself as aforesaid to be utterly false, and untrue and fraudulent at the time of making the same. And the said de *248 fendant J. W. Moore then and there in the manner and by the means aforesaid did then and there and thereby willfully and unlawfully, fraudulently, knowingly and designedly cheat and defraud the said W. H. Edmands of the said goods and personal property hereinbefore described and set forth. All to the damage of, said W. H. Edmands. . . . ”
In the case of Peoples. Griesheimer, 176 Cal. 44, [167 Pac. 521], the defendant was convicted of the crime of obtaining money by false pretenses under section 532 of the Penal Code, and it was claimed by the defendant that the information did not show the causal connection between the false pretenses and the parting with the property by the prosecuting witness. The court in passing upon this objection uses the following language: “We are of the opinion that as against the deféndant’s general demurrer the information should be held sufficient on appeal. While there is no direct allegation that the money was paid to the defendant as a subscription or loan to the ‘Fatherland Magazine,’ a reader of the information could hardly draw from it any other inference than that the payment was made for such purpose. It may be conceded that a direct allegation to this effect would have been more in accord with technical requirements. But what was intended to be charged in this connection is perfectly plain from the language in fact used, and no person of common understanding could fail to understand that it was substantially charged, by necessary inference at least, that the money was paid because of the alleged false representations, and for the purpose suggested thereby. Section 4%, article VI, of the constitution provides that ‘no judgment shall be set aside, or new trial granted, in any ease, *249 . . . for any error as to any matter of pleading, . . . unless, after an examination of the entire cause, including the evidence, the court shall be of the opinion that the error complained of has resulted in a miscarriage of justice. ’ We are satisfied that to reverse the judgment on this ground would be to entirely ignore this provision of our constitution. ’ ’
Applying this language of the supreme court to the information in the case at bar it is equally clear that no person of common understanding could fail to understand from reading the information that the defendant in negotiating for the purchase of the cattle falsely represented and pre- . tended to W. 0. Edmands that everything he was doing, he was doing as the agent of Lewis and McDermott, and that by these false and fraudulent representations and pretenses he obtained the cattle and that the prosecuting witness was thereby defrauded out of his property.
In People v. Haas, 28 Cal. App. 182, [151 Pac. 672], the court in passing upon the sufficiency of an information for obtaining money or property by false pretenses said that “an indictment or information charging the crime of obtaining money or property by false representations and pretenses must show the facts as to what the pretenses were; that there was an intent to defraud, the name of the person defrauded, with a description of the property and a statement of its value, together with an allegation that the false and fraudulent pretenses charged were relied upon by the party who claims to have been defrauded, and that he was induced thereby to part with his property.” In the case at bar all these necessary averments are fully alleged and the information in this case is as full and complete as the information that the court in People v. Haas held to be sufficient. (See, also, People v. Hines, 5 Cal. App. 122, [89 Pac. 858]; People v. Donaldson, 70 Cal. 116, [11 Pac. 681].) Tested by the principles announced in the foregoing eases the information before us in .this case is ample and sufficient. “It contains every essential allegation necessary to charge the defendant with the commission of the offense and is calculated to fully acquaint him with the nature of the charge.” (People v. Hines, supra.)
*250
The objections to the questions asked W. O. Edmands as to offers of payment made at the meetings with defendant after the transaction, at the police station in Berkeley and before his arrest, were properly sustained by the court. The crime was complete at the time the defendant perpetrated the fraud upon Edmands and thereby procured his cattle.
*252
This defense of the defendant was by the verdict of the jury rejected and this verdict is final and conclusive. “Undoubtedly the defendant's own story exculpates him, but it was for the jury to say whether or not that story should be believed. The evidence was therefore sufficient to justify the verdict.” (Peoples. Rongo, 169 Cal. 71, [145 Pac. 1017].) In People v. Emerson, 130 Cal. 562, [62 Pac. 1069], it is said: “For if the evidence which bears against the defendant, considered by itself, and without regard to conflicting evidence, is sufficient to support the verdict, the question ceases to be one of law—of which alone this court has jurisdiction—and becomes one of fact upon which the decision of the jury and the trial court is final and conclusive.”
This evidence, as above stated, was received without objection, and it furnishes a proper basis for all the argument of the assistant prosecuting attorney which was objected to by the defendant.
The judgment and the order are affirmed.
Hart, J., and Burnett, J., concurred.
A petition to have the cause heard in the supreme court, after judgment in the district court of appeal, was denied by the supreme court on August 16, 1920.
All the Justices concurred, except Sloane, J., who was absent.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The PEOPLE, Respondent, v. J. W. MOORE, Appellant
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- 8 cases
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- Published