Golden v. State
Golden v. State
Opinion of the Court
In this case the indictment contained two counts—one for theft and one for embezzlement of money alleged to be the property of one E. J. Weedon. The conviction was for embezzlement.
There are two bills of exception in the record, but the Assistant Attorney General insists that they cannot be considered, because not filed in the court below within ten days from the conclusion of the trial. They were filed, however, before, adjournment of the term, though when filed more than ten days had elapsed since the trial. Articles 1363 and 1364 of the Revised Statutes prescribe the rules with regard to bills of exception, which apply to both criminal and civil cases. By those Articles it is provided that the bills must be presented “ to the judge for his allowance and signature during the term and within
By the first bill of exceptions it is shown that the admission of the evidence of tlie prosecuting witnesses, previously taken and reduced to writing at an examining trial of the case before a magistrate, was objected to because: “First—The witnesses were absent from the State by the aid and procurement of the State’s attorney. Second—Because the justice of the peace had failed to write his name across the seal of the envelope containing the testimony. Third—Because the certificate of the justice of the peace failed to show that the evidence had been read over to the witnesses, or that it had been signed by the witnesses as the law requires.”
In regard to the ground stated in the first objection, to-wit: that the county attorney had aided and procured means for the witnesses to leave the State, and was instrumental in their leaving—the facts are stated in the bill; and, instead of being in any manner a reflection upon, they are a credit to the humanity and conduct of that officer. The witnesses were two old, and one helpless, females, without husbands or protectors, who had been induced by the wiles of defendant to come from their distant home in North Carolina only to be swindled by him the day after their arrival out of the hard earned means they had been able to lay up during nine or twelve years of constant labor in a factory. Strangers in a strange land, thus helpless and destitute in mid winter when their hapless condition was developed at the examining trial; the county attorney made up the money
As to the second objection, the bill of exception fails to furnish any evidence that the magistrate had failed to write his name across the envelope containing the testimony, as is required by law. (Code Crim. Proc., Art. 314; Kerry v. The State, 17 Texas Ct. App., 179.) In the absence of the proof showing the fact to exist, we will presume that the fact could not be established by proof.
The third objection is that the certificate of the magistrate fails to show that the evidence had been read over to the witnesses, or that it had been signed by the witnesses as the law requires. The statute provides that the testimony, after being reduced to writing, “shall then be read over to the witness, or he may read it over himself, and such corrections shall be made in the same as the witness may direct, and he shall then sign the same by affixing thereto his name or mark. All the testimony thus taken shall be certified to by the magistrate taking the same.” (Code Crim. Proc., Art. 267.) It is, however, no where required that the magistrate’s certificate shall set forth the fact that the evidence was read over to or by the witness. In fact, no particular form is prescribed by law for the certificate of a magistrate to testimony taken before him as an examining court. (Evans v. The State, 13 Texas Ct. App., 225; Hart v. The State, 15 Texas Ct. App., 202; Kerry v. The State, 17 Texas Ct., App., 179; Timbrook v.The State, 18 Texas Ct. App., 1). And the law will presume that such things as are here complained of were done as the law requires or directs, without a certificate to that effect. (O’Connell v. The State, 10 Texas Ct. App., 567.) We find the testimony of each witness is signed as the law requires, and the magistrate certifies to each statement that the same was sworn to and subscribed before him. None of the objections urged against the testimony were maintainable, and the court did not err in admitting it in evidence.
We will consider the second bill of exceptions, which calls in question the correctness of the charge of the court, with the motion in arrest of judgment, which attacks the sufficiency of
It was attempted to be shown by the defense that the money obtained from E. J. Weedon, the alleged owner, by defendant, was in fact not her property, but money in her hands justly and properly belonging to the wife of the defendant; and it is contended that a husband can not be guilty of either theft or embezzlement when the property taken or converted by him belongs to his wife.
Upon this phase of the case, the court charged the jury as follows, viz: “If you find that the money described in the bill of indictment belonged to the defendant’s wife, Ella Golden, and that said money was voluntarily turned over to the defendant by E. J. Weedon, to be used by him, defendant, then defendant is not guilty of either theft or embezzlement; or, if said money belonged to defendant’s wife, and she, his said wife, was entitled to the possession of the same, then defendant would not be guilty; but this rule would not apply if the said E. J. Weedon was entitled to the sole possession of said money.” We are of opinion the instruction was correct and properly presented the law on this branch of the case, as applicable to the facts.
But again, it is most urgently insisted that the evidence does not warrant a conviction for embezzlement; that if any offense is established against defendant, it is theft and not embezzlement. We are free to concede that the defendant might have been convicted, under the evidence developed, of theft, by having obtained the money under false pretenses—the pretense being that he wanted to deposit it in bank to secure it for the owner—his intention at the time being to deprive the owner of it and appropriate it to his own use. But the fact that he might have been convicted of theft does not militate against the fact that he might, under the same circumstances, be guilty of the crime of embezzlement. “All authorities treat embezzlement as akin to larceny, and the statutory offense of embezzlement mainly originates in a necessity which resulted from the inapplicability of the common law of larceny to breaches of trust by persons occupying fiduciary relations. Concisely de
Defendant induced Mrs. Weedon to turn over.the money to him, ostensibly and with the understanding that he was to deposit the same for her in bank for safe keeping. She intrusted it to him for that and no other purpose. At the very time he obtained it, it is true that to all intents and purposes he was a thief, intending to steal it; but in so far as she was concerned, she was only creating him her agent to take the money for deposit for her to the bank. The trust imposed in him by her was that he would, as her agent, take the money to the bank, and it was intrusted to him solely for that purpose. Instead of complying with the purposes of the trust and his agency, he misapplied, misappropriated, embezzled and converted to his own use the money so confided to him. The evidence makes a most clear and indubitable case of embezzlement, even though it may contain all the essential elements of theft also. It amply sustains the conviction for embezzlement, and we feel fully justified in adding that the facts developed in this record discover as heartless and as inhuman a wrong to obtain money by fraudulent devices as is rarely to be found in the history of crimes unaccompanied by personal violence.
We have found no reversible error in the record, and the judgment is in all things affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
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- W. A. M. Golden v. State
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- 1. Practice—Oases Overruled .—Bills op Exception, both in criminal and civil cases, are, required by statute to be presented to the judge for his allowance and signature during the term, and “ within ten days after the trial,” and, when signed by the judge, to he “filed with the clerk during the term.’’ Held, that the limitation of “ ten days after the trial ” applies only to the presentation of the bill to the judge, and does not apply to the filing of the bill with the clerk. In so far as it is other „se held in- Keeton’s case, 10 Texas Court of Appeals, 686; Cummins’s ease, 12 Texas Court of Appeals, 121, and Morris’s ease, 17 Texas Court of Appeals, 660, those cases are overruled. 2. Practice—Evidence.—In a trial for felony the State offered as evidence the testimony of certain witnesses, which was taken and reduced to writing at the examining trial of the accused, who was then confronted with and.cross examined them. The predicate laid was the absence and residence of the witness in another State. The defense objected on the ground that the witnesses were absent from the State by the aid and procurement of the attorney for the State. The county attorney made oath that he did aid the witnesses to return to their home in a distant State, because they were helpless and destitute women who, after coming to Texas at the inducement of the accused, were swindled by him out of all their means of support, and they were aided to return to their home by the deponent to enable them to obtain subsistence, and not for the purpose of depriving either the accused or the State of their testimony in person. The trial court overruled the objection, and the ruling is held correct. 3. Same.—The defense also objected on the allegation that the magistrate who held the examining court had failed to write his name across the seal of the envelope containing the written testimony, as required by law. But there being nothing in the bill of exceptions or the record to verify the allegation, the presumption is against its truth, and the objection is futile. 4. Same.—A third objection was that the magistrate’s certificate to the written testimony failed to show that it had been read to or signed by the witnesses, as required by law. Held, that the testimony is shown by the record to have been duly signed by the witnesses, and it is not necessary that the magistrate’s certificate should affirmatively state that the testimony was read to or by them. Ho particular form for the certificate is prescribed by law, and the presumption obtains that the magistrate complied with the directions of the law in such matters. 5. Indictment for Embezzlement is sufficient if it substantially conforms to Ho. 509 of Willson’s Criminal Forms. 6. Embezzlement by Husband of Wife’s Honey.—-See the opinion of the court for the instructions given to the jury on the appropriation by a husband of his wife’s money; which instructions are held correct in view of their relevancy to the facts in proof. 7. Theft—Embezzlement.—The first count of the indictment charged the appellant with the theft of certain money, and the second count charged him with the embezzlement of the same money. He was convicted under the second count, and objects because the evidence sufficed to prove him guilty of theft as charged in the first count. Held, that the objection is not maintainable, and the conviction is sustained: 8. Same—Fact Case.—See the statement of the case for evidence which amply sustains a conviction for embezzlement, and which would have warranted a conviction for theft.