State v. Tripp
State v. Tripp
Opinion of the Court
prepared the opinion for the court.
Appeals from a judgment entered on a verdict of guilty and from an order overruling the defendant’s motion for a new trial.
The information filed in the cause charged the defendant with the crime of “an attempt to obtain money by false pretenses,” and it is alleged that on the eighteenth day of October, 1920, the defendant, with intent to cheat and defraud
State’s witness Brown testified that on the afternoon of October 18, 1920, he was employed by the defendant to go with the defendant to Nissler and get two of four kegs which defendant and the witness had theretofore placed there, which were dry, and leaking badly; that they filled two of the kegs with water, put a burlap sack around each keg, and “When I got near the Centennial Brewery the kegs were unloaded and left alongside of the road a short distance from the Centennial Brewery.”
The defendant at that time had in his possession a brace and bit. Later, on the evening of the same date, the witness Brown went with the officers, took possession of the two kegs, which were found about a quarter of a mile west of Montana Street, and about twenty-five yards off the road. One of the kegs was of ten-gallon capacity, and one of fifteen-gallon capacity, both wrapped in burlap, and filled with colored water. This evidence does not show that defendant delivered the kegs at the place where the test was to be made, or that he went or started to go with Egan to the place of the test, or that he received any part of the consideration, or that he told Egan where he had left the kegs; and it is only by inference that it can be gathered that it was these particular kegs he intended to deliver to Egan. There is evidence that in July, 1920, at Livingston, Montana, the defendant had committed a similar offense in a similar manner, but this only goes to the question of intent. It appears from this evidence that, after making arrangements with the witness Egan to meet him on the following evening, the defendant and Egan did meet at the appointed time and place; but it appears that at the second meeting a new arrangement was made concerning where they were to go to make the test, and that they were to go to that place when Egan had put his horse and buggy away. Defendant did not accompany Egan any distance whatsoever, but remained there, apparently waiting for Egan to return. The
The supreme court of this state, in State v. Rains, 53 Mont. 424, 164 Pac. 540, has so fully discussed this proposition that no good would be accomplished by any further discussion. In addition to the cases referred to in State v. Rains, we will cite the following: People v. Youngs, 122 Mich. 293, 47 L. R. A. 109, 81 N. W. 114; People v. Petros, 25. Cal. App. 236, 143 Pac. 246.
The meeting of Egan and the defendant on the evening of the 18th cannot be considered as having any greater significance than to show the completion of the preparations, rather than the commencement of the consummation. Guilty intent and preparation are shown in this record, and nothing beyond that point. The places referred to in the evidence — that is, Second and Front Streets Milwaukee depot, Centennial Brewery — may be places well known to the people residing there, but there is nothing in the record giving us any information as to the relative location of these places or the distance between them, except the statement that the kegs were found a quarter of a mile west of Montana Street.
In State v. Phillips, 36 Mont. 112, 92 Pac. 299, the question, aside from cautionary instructions considered by the court, was the sufficiency of the information.' The information charged that the defendant falsely pretended to be the brother of Charles Phillips, and thereupon sent a telegram, etc. Two acts were charged in this information; the falsely pretending to be the brother of Charles Phillips and the sending of the telegram. While the information was somewhat indefinite and incomplete, the court sustained it.
In State v. Taylor, 47 Or. 455, 8 Ann. Cas. 627, 4 L. R. A. (n. s.) 417, 84 Pac. 82, the court held that the defendant in that cause was charged with the attempt to burn a barn. He engaged two other men to start the fire; he instructed them how to start a slow fire; furnished them with the material; paid them $100; furnished one of them a horse to ride
We recommend that the judgment and order appealed from be reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial.
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion, the judgment and order are reversed, and the cause is remanded to the district court of Silver Bow county, with directions to grant the defendant a new trial.
Reversed and remmded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE v. TRIPP
- Status
- Published