Smith v. State
Smith v. State
Opinion of the Court
The indictment on which the plaintiff in error was put upon trial contained two counts, one of which charged her jointly with her husband J. C. Smith, Maggie Gaw and Sarah Leuzler, with the larceny of the property in question, and the other count charged that she, with the persons named, did unlawfully and fraudulently buy, receive, and conceal the property, knowing that it had been stolen. The plaintiff in error, .on her demand, was given a separate trial, in the course of which the state abandoned the count for larceny, and the ease then proceeded on the other count. The property embraced in that count consisted of dry goods, shoes, jewelry, and other articles of merchandise which belonged to, and had been stolen from different merchants in the city of Sandusky. That count describes the various articles of stolen property, alleges their value, names the respective owners, and charges that all of the property was bought, received, and concealed by the parties accused, on the seventeenth day of May, 1897. In the count for the larceny there is the same description of the property and allegations of ownership and value, and the larceny is laid on the same day. A motion to quash each count for duplicity was overruled; and that action of the court is made a ground of error here, the claim being that, as the property of different
While it is true that the stealing from different owners at different times, however slight the interval, constitute several offenses, a larceny of several articles may be committed by the same act, so as to constitute but one offense, though they are the property of different owners. State v. Hennessey, 23 Ohio St., 339. And so with respect to receiving or concealing stolen property. Many articles stolen at different times from several persons may be received and concealed by the same act, and then there is but one offense. A motion to quash lies only when the objection is apparent on the face of the record; Revised Statutes, section 7249. And as the indictment in the one count avers that all the property described was stolen, and in the other received and concealed, by the accused parties on the same day, it may be treated as charging but one criminal act in each count. It does not affirmatively appear that more than one offense is charged in either count, and the motion was therefore properly overruled.
The evidence tended to prove that some of the goods had been stolen from the stores of the several owners in Sandusky before the day laid in the indictment, and were found on that day in the house where the plaintiff in error resided with her husband, which was in the country some miles distant from Sandusky. It further tended to prove that the plaintiff in error had been in the habit of visiting these stores, where she carried on a species of theft commonly known as shoplifting, and on some occasions was accompanied by her co-defendant Leuzler who engaged in a like mode
Upon the conclusion of the testimony the defendant, by her counsel, presented the following written instruction which the court was requested to give in charge to the jury: “You must first find from the evidence that a crime has been committed — that the goods alleged in the indictment or some of them were stolen from the owner or owners; and in so finding the jury must take into consideratidn all of the evidence submitted; and having found that a larceny was committed you will find from the testimony that some one other than the defendant here on trial stole the goods, before you can find that she can be guilty of buying, receiving and concealing the same; for if she alone shall have stolen the goods, she cannot be guilty as charged under this indictment of buying, receiving and concealing the same, for the statute comprehends that the buying or receiving and the subsequent concealing to have been from some one who is the thief, and not a receiving from the thief by the thief; the statute contemplates at least two persons in such transactions.” This instruction was refused, and an exception duly entered. Several other instructions on the same subject were requested, all of which, like this one, made the receiving of the stolen property from the thief essential to a conviction. At the request of the state’s attorney the jury were instructed as follows: “If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the goods or a part of them were stolen and that the defendant not only received the stolen goods or a part of them knowing them to be stolen goods, but also assisted in stealing them, or a part
The crime of larceny is defined, and its punishment prescribed, by section 6856, of the Revised Statutes. And, by section 6858, the buying, receiving and concealing of stolen property, is made a distinctive and substantive offense, separate from that of the larceny of the property, though it is punished in the same way. The offense at common law was limited to the buying or receiving of stolen property; and the thief could not be convicted of that offense, because he could neither be the buyer or receiver of the property from himself, and therefore did not come within the description. The change made by our statute consists in the addition of concealment of stolen property, with guilty knowledge, to the criminal acts of buying and receiving it. But the thief cannot be convicted of that offense, because there is present in the larceny a concealment of the property stolen, with intent to deprive the owner of it, which, whether of long or short duration constitutes a part of that crime, and not the separate substantive one under section 6858; and this is so, though he was assisted by another in the commission of the larceny. The purpose of that section was to provide for cases not included in the one against larceny, and to punish those who, when a larceny has been committed, receives or conceals the fruits of that crime; and to include the thief within that class would subject him to punishment twice or more for a single criminal transaction. We see no reason, however, why a confederate of the thief may not be guilty of both receiving and concealing
But we find no error in refusing the instruction requested by the defendant. It is not necessary in a prosecution under this statute to show that the stolen property was obtained from the thief. The offense is made out by proof that, with the
The defendant requested another instruction which, in substance, was that, if different articles of the property described in the indictment were stolen at different times, and received and concealed by the defendant at different times and as separate transactions, each transaction would constitute a separate offense; and there could not be a conviction under the indictment of more than one of such offenses. The court gave the instruction, but with the qualification that, if the various articles of property were stolen by the defendant and another person jointly, in pursuance of an agreement that they should be so stolen and received or concealed by the defendant, and they were so received or concealed, such receiving or concealing would be a continuous transaction constituting but one offense, although the different articles were received and concealed at different times and on ' different occasions; and the total value of' all the property should be found accordingly by the jury, as of one offense. To this, exceptions were duly taken.
It cannot be doubted that, in the absence of such an agreement as that referred to in the charge, the receiving- or concealing of stolen property on separate occasions would constitute separate offenses; nor, that the charge applied to the case authorized such offenses of an inferior grade to be united so as to form one crime of a higher grade, to be punished as such, if committed in pursuance of such agreement. The grade of the crime and the degree of the punishment is thus made to depend upon the agreement, and not on the facts of its commission. Such agreement is not an ingredient of the offense of receiving or concealing stolen
And we believe there is no sound principle upon which it can be maintained that separate offenses, committed at different times, and each consisting of its own distinct facts, may be regarded as a continuing transaction constituting one crime equal in magnitude to them all combined, because of an agreement among parties- that they would engage in their commission when and as opportunity might permit. Nor have we found any authority in point which sustains the proposition. The cases of People v. Stein, 1 Park. C. C., 202; State v. Crawford, 39 S. C., 343 (17 S. E. Rep., 799) and Levi v. State, 14 Neb., 1, cited in support of the charge fail, we think, to sústain it. The only question raised or decided in the first of these cases was, as stated by the court, “whether to convict ail (who were jointly indicted for receiving embezzled goods), it was necessary that all should be present at one time and place engaged in receiving.” And the court held, in accordance With the well established rule that, all who were proved to have confederated in the transactions, could be convicted, though the receiving was at different times and places, and though the defendants were not present. The question we have here was not involved, or passed upon. The case of State v. Crawford rests upon a peculiar statute of South Carolina, which, after defining the crime of receiving stolen property, contained a proviso that,
While the concealment of stolen property is a continuing act as long as the property remains in the control of the concealer, its continued control does not create new offenses from day to day, but relates back to, and is connected with the original act of concealment, forming no part of an offense arising from the subsequent concealment of other property, though the property embraced in both offenses be found in the offender’s possession at the same time and place. Being separate offenses when committed, they remain such notwith
The court denied a request of the defendant to direct the jury to make special findings in answer to certain written interrogatories submitted; and that is assigned as error. Counsel rely on sections 5200 and 5201, of the Revised Statutes, but those sections are part of the civil code, and have no application in criminal cases. There appears to be no corresponding provision in the criminal code. The verdict on the issue of not guilty is regulated bv the oath which the jurv is required to take, and that is to well and truly try and true deliverance make between the state and the prisoner. Revised Statutes, section 7281. The court therefore properly denied the request.
For the errors in the charge ■which have been pointed out, the judgment is reversed and cause remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.