State v. Maher
State v. Maher
Opinion of the Court
Indicted for burglary in the second degree and for larceny, defendant was tried and convicted of both offenses; for the former he was given three years in the penitentiary, and for the latter two. This dual inculpatory result has induced this appeal.
The indictment is in usual and approved form, consequently there is nothing in it on which the motion in arrest could operate.
The testimony on behalf of the state (as taken from a short bill of exceptions, something seldom seen in this prolix and tautological age of stenography) is the following:
“The dwelling house of one Greo. F. Tower, Jr., on Grrand avenue, in the city of St. Louis, state of Missouri, was on the night of the sixth of August, 1891, entered by means of a burglary, to wit: by breaking open a door of said house, and that there was stolen on said night from said house a clock of rare make and of value of $50; that the defendant the next day after said burglary called upon one Yan Ealte, a pawnbroker in St. Louis, Missouri, with the clock-and sold it to the pawnbroker for considerably less than its
All that the bill shows for the defense is this: “The testimony on the part of the defendant was to the effect that he had bought the clock from some other person, and that on the night of the alleged burglary he was with his family. ”
The instructions given at the instance of the state embraced within their scope the usual presumption arising from the recent possession of stolen property, or property acquired as the result of both burglary and larceny. State v. Babb, 76 Mo. 501; State v. Kelly, 73 Mo. 608; State v. Williams, 54 Mo. 170. Others given, instructed the jury as to burglary in the second degree and larceny, grand larceny unconnected with burglary; as to alibi, presumption of guilt from flight, competency of defendant as a witness, credibility of witnesses, and reasonable doubt.
These instructions addressed to the jury were full on every topic “upon all questions of law arising in the ease, which were necessary for their information in
Nor was any testimony admitted over the objection of defendant, nor any offered by defendant refused so far as shown by the bill of exceptions, — the motion for new trial is, therefore, unsupported in its assertions, which without support in the bill are worthless. State v. Foster, 115 Mo. 448, and cases cited. No error appearing in the record, judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Status
- Published