State v. Mooney
State v. Mooney
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The defendant was charged with burglary and larceny committed in a freight car. The information contained but one count. From a judgment of conviction he appeals and assigns numerous errors. It appears that the defendant was a former railroad employee. That at Concordia a box containing whisky was received on its return from a shipment from Kansas City to a point farther west. The state claims that this box was at Concordia loaded into a'certain freight car, which was properly sealed, and that the defendant burglarized the car, breaking the seal, and stole the whisky therefrom.
The motions to separately state and to quash on the ground that the two offenses were not charged in separate counts were properly overruled, in view of the provision of section 72 of the crimes act (Gen. Stat. 1909, .§ 2560).
In addition to certain other evidence properly received, the state introduced a record kept in the railway • station which showed that the car was sealed, such record having been written by one who was not present as a witness. This appears to have been the company’s seal record made up in the usual way, and we do not think the defendant’s objection that it was hearsay and secondary, and therefore incompetent, well taken. (CivCode, § 384; Cockrill v. Railway Co., 90 Kan. 650, 136 Pac. 322; Barker v. Railway Co., 88 Kan. 767, 129 Pac. 1151, and cases there cited.)
All the other errors assigned may be properly considered under the head of the fourth, that the court erred in instructing that there were three offenses included in the charge, the highest being that of breaking and entering, in the nighttime, a railway freight car, with the intent to steal, and the stealing therefrom, which would constitute one offense, known in the law as burglary and larceny; that a second and lesser degree was such burglary without larceny, and a third and last was such larceny without burglary. Pursuant to these instructions, the jury rendered the following remarkable verdict:
“We, the jury, empaneled and sworn in the above entitled case, do upon our oath find the defendant, Chet Mooney, guilty of the offense of burglary and larceny, as charged in the information. And we further find the defendant, Chet Mooney, not guilty of the offense of burglary and not guilty of the offense of larceny from a freight car as charged in the information.”
Literally, this verdict acquits the defendant of burlary and larceny, and convicts him of burglary and larceny. Manifestly, however, the jury understood from the charge of the court that if the defendant broke into and stole from the car, he was guilty of one specific offense known by the compound name of burglary and larceny; and, believing that he had done both, they not only said so, but took pains in the verdict to say that he had not done either. But verdicts in felony cases are too serious to be thus formulated. The court was in error because there is no such single offense known to the law as burglary and larceny. On the
While there is evidence that the seal to the door on the south side of the car was broken, still it appears to be undisputed that the door on the north side was out of repair, and so propped as to leave an 18-inch space at the top. There is much in the record to indicate that the defendant was not alone in whatever he did in reference to the stolen whisky. But these are matters for consideration when another trial shall be reached.
For the error in the instruction, followed by the inconsistent verdict, the judgment of conviction is reversed and thé cause remanded for further proceedings.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The State of Kansas v. Chet Mooney
- Cited By
- 15 cases
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- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. 1. Criminal Law — Burglary and Larceny May be Charged in One Count. Under section 72 of the crimes act (Gen. Stat. 1909, § 2560) burglary and larceny may be charged in one count, and an information thus drawn is not subject to motion to quash or to require separate counts. 2. Same — Burglary and Larceny — Freight Car — Evidence—Seal Record. In the trial of the defendant, charged with burglary and larceny in a freight car, the state introduced in evidence a seal record made and kept in the usual way by the railroad company to show that the car was sealed, the employee who had made the entry in such record not being present at the trial. Held, that an objection on the ground that such record was hearsay and secondary, and therefore incompetent, was properly overruled. 3. Same — Burglary and Larceny Separate Offenses — No Compound Offense of Burglary and Larceny. There is no offense known to our statutes consisting of both burglary and larceny, but each is a separate offense although both be committed at the same time and place. Hence an instruction that the charge of burglary and larceny in a freight car embraced three offenses — burglary, larceny, and the offense of burglary and larceny — was erroneous, and the verdict rendered pursuant thereto finding the defendant guilty of the offense of burglary and larceny as charged in the information, and not guilty of the offense of burglary, and not guilty of the offense of larceny from a freight car as charged in the information, was not one upon which the defendant could be rightfully sentenced.