State v. Stephens
State v. Stephens
Opinion of the Court
We do not perceive any good and valid reason for sustaining the motion to quash the indictment in this ease. It is made apparent that it contains the distinct allegation of the theft of his own property by the defendant. It was such a “fraudulent taking” of his own property, from the rightful possession of'another, as was contemplated by the fourth subdivision of Art. 2388, Paschal’s Digest. The charge is, that one William IT. Pate held possession of, by virtue of his lien for repairs, a watch, the property of the defendant; and that the defendant fraudulently took it, without the consent of the said Pate, to deprive him of the value of said repairs (by depriving him of the said watch), and to appropriate it (the value of the repairs) to his (the said defendant’s) use. The allegation of the amount of the value of either the watch or of the repairs, is an immaterial matter, except that some -value must be affixed to the thing alleged to be stolen. All these matters are substantially alleged in the indictment. And the mere fact
The court ought to have overruled the motion to quash. The case is reversed and remanded.
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State v. Samuel Stephens
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1— See this case for aa indictment held to be sufficient, against the owner of a watch for the theft of it from his bailee. 2— A general charge, alleging time and place, that the owner of a watch of any designated value, rightfully in the possession of a bailee, and held by him as security for work and labor bestowed on it, had fraudulently taken it, without the consent of the bailee, from his possession, with the intent of depriving him of the valuecof such repairs, would be entirely sufficient in this species of theft. 8—The value of the repairs need not be alleged. They imply a value. 4—Repairs, of themselves, are not the subject matter of theft. They are only an accretion of value to a thing which may be the subject matter of that offense.