Mississippi Supreme Court, 1936

Brittenum v. State

Mississippi Supreme Court · Decided April 13, 1936 · Cook

167 So. 619; 175 Miss. 453; 1936 Miss. LEXIS 59 (Southern Reporter)

Counsel

Lester G. Fant, Jr., of Holly Springs, for appellants. The court gave for the state an instruction purporting to define the crime of larceny. It stated that if the jury believed from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants "unlawfully took, stole, and carried away" the cow, then the jury must convict the defendants. It entirely omitted to say that the jury must find that the defendants took the cow feloniously. This instruction has been so often expressly condemned by this court that argument of the question seems unnecessary. Dedeaux v. State, 125 Miss. 326 , 87 So. 664; Poe v. State, 159 Miss. 76 , 132 So. 92 ; Section 1009, Code of 1930; Watkins v. State, 60 Miss. 323 ; Warden v. State, 60 Miss. 638 . The alleged confessions of Brittenum should have been excluded. Wright v. State, 161 So. 870 . Instead of the burden resting on the defendant to show it was involuntary, the alleged confession should be excluded if there is a reasonable doubt that it was voluntary. Johnson v. State, 107 Miss. 196 , 65 So. 218; Ellis v. State, 65 Miss. 44 , 3 So. 188; Williams v. State, 72 Miss. 117 , 16 So. 296; State v. Smith, 72 Miss. 420 , 18 So. 482. Slight expressions of hope of reward or fear of punishment render alleged confessions inadmissible. Simon v. State, 37 Miss. 288 ; Mackmasters v. State, 82 Miss. 459 . It is well settled that where one confession is inadmissible a subsequent one is likewise tainted unless it is clearly shown from the evidence that the inducement or fear has been removed. No such was made here. Mackmasters v. State, 82 Miss. 459 ; Whitley v. State, 78 Miss. 255 ; Jones v. State, 133 Miss. 684 , 98 So. 150; Fisher v. State, 145 Miss. 116 , 110 So. 361 . The court erred in admitting incompetent testimony. W.D. Conn, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, for the state. The third instruction for the state told the jury that if it believed that the defendants "unlawfully took, stole and carried away" the cow, etc., it should find them guilty as charged. Under Dedeaux v. State, 125 Miss. 326 , 87 So. 664, and Coe v. State, 159 Miss. 76 , 132 So. 92 , the state submits that the instruction complained of is erroneous. The question then arises as to whether this error has been cured by some other instruction. The record does not reflect just when the request was made, whether before or after the confession. However, it seems it was made prior to Bogard's leaving to assist Mrs. Loftin and shortly before Brittenum's statement to the deputy, Mr. Morton. If, however, it should be conceded that this request and promise was made prior to the confession and was such as to render that subsequent confession inadmissible as evidence, it still should not operate to work a reversal for the reason that the otherwise competent evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates the guilt of appellants of this larceny. Warren v. State, 164 So. 234 ; Comings v. State, 163 Miss. 442 , 142 So. 19 ; Wexler v. State, 167 Miss. 464 , 142 So. 501 .

Opinion of the Court

*456 Cook, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

E. H. Brittenum, Walker Thomas, Robert Kinkle, and Oscar Watson were jointly indicted on a charge of grand larceny. Robert Kinkle and Oscar Watson entered pleas of guilty, and testified for the state on the joint trial of the appellants, Brittenum and Thomas, who were convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of five years.

The conviction rests upon the corroborated testimony of the two' alleged accomplices who had previously entered pleas of guilty, the purported confessions of Brittenum, and certain circumstances and physical facts. According’ to- the testimony of the two alleged accomplices, the four codefendants, in accordance with a preconceived plan, assembled after midnight on July 6,1935, and stole a cow of the value of thirty-five dollars belonging to one Isaac Martin, loaded her on a truck belonging to Brittenum, and hauled her to Memphis, where she was sold to a cattle dealer. The appellant Brittenum admitted that he hauled the cow in question to Memphis, but contended that the defendant Oscar Watson hired him to do so, and that he hauled the cow and was paid *457 therefor in the .regular course of his business as a public trucker. Other facts will be mentioned in connection with the points to be discussed.

The first assignment of error is based upon the omission in the state’s instruction to- charge the jury that, to constitute the crime of larceny, the taking of the property must have been feloniously done. In the case of Dedeaux v. State, 125 Miss. 326, 87 So. 664, and again in Poe v. State, 159 Miss. 76, 132 So. 92, it was held that the word “felonious,” as used in the statute defining larceny, is not merely descriptive of the grade of the offense, but is an essential ingredient of the crime, and that in the prosecution for larceny an instruction which omits this essential element is erroneous. In the case at bar, there was no other instruction which cured this omission.

The appellants also assign as error the admission of alleged confessions of the appellant B'rittenum. It is admitted that one of the parties who had this appellant in custody promised to aid him if he would make a full confession. There is some confusion in the record as to whether this promise was made before the appellant made the first incriminating admission, but we think the clear inference from the testimony is that the offer of reward or assistance preceded any confession. In any event, the burden was on the state to show that the confessions were entirely free and voluntary. This it failed to do, and in this state of the record, these confessions should have been excluded. Simon v. State, 37 Miss. 288; Ellis v. State, 65 Miss. 44, 3 So. 188, 7 Am. St. Rep. 634; State v. Smith, 72 Miss. 420, 18 So. 482; Williams v. State, 72 Miss. 117, 16 So. 296; Johnson v. State, 107 Miss. 196, 65 So. 218, 51 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1183, and Wright v. State, 173 Miss. 242, 161 So. 870.

Certain hearsay testimony as to the value of the stolen cow, and the testimony of a witness as to matters appear *458 ing in the books in the office of the stockyards in Memphis, should have been excluded.

For the several errors mentioned, the judgment of the court below will be reversed, and the cause remanded.

Reversed and remanded.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.