State v. Downer
State v. Downer
Opinion of the Court
The defendant was convicted in the lower court upon a charge of larceny by embezzlement. He appeals from the judgment thereon.
He makes three assignments of error, to the effect (1) that
The defendant was in the employ of C. C. Belknap Glass Company as a bookkeeper and cashier, during the years 1910 and 1911. As such employee, he had sole charge of the books of account and money of that company. During the months of January, February, March, and April, he took from a cash drawer small sums of money aggregating $175, without the knowledge of his employer. When this fact was discovered, he admitted that he had taken the money, but claimed that he had subsequently replaced it. The state’s evidence tended to show that he had never returned the money, or any part of it. The appellant’s testimony showed conclusively that he had taken the money without notice to his employers, and that he had secreted the fact by executing a note which was charged off to profit and loss, but that he had kept the note in his possession; that after he had returned the money secretly during a period of months, he then destroyed the notes. It is at once apparent that there was ample evidence to go to the jury on the whole case.
Certain pages of books and possibly the books themselves were offered and received in evidence. These books were the books kept by the appellant. When they were offered in evidence no obj ections were made. Counsel for appellant stated, “We have no objections.” There is therefore no merit in this assignment.
The principal contention of the appellant is that the court erred in receiving evidence of offenses which occurred after April 30, 1910, the date upon which the offense is alleged to
“In that case, State v. Bokien and State v. Gottfreedson were approved. But there was no attempt to overrule the case of State v. Pittam, 32 Wash. 137, 72 Pac. 1042, where it was held that, in a prosecution for embezzling funds of an employer, evidence of other acts of the defendant, in giving receipts to patrons of his employer and making entries on the books for less amounts than the money received, was adjnissible for the purpose of showing a general scheme which he adopted in keeping his employer’s accounts, as tending to show a system employed on his part in furthering such embezzlement.”
The evidence was clearly admissible under this rule.
We find no error in the record, and the judgment is therefore affirmed.
Dunbar, C. J., Ellis, Morris, and Fullerton, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The State of Washington v. Frank Downer
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Embezzlement — Evidence—Sueeiciency. There is sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction of larceny by embezzlement, where it was admitted that the defendant, employed as a bookkeeper, took small sums from a cash drawer, secreting the fact by the execution of a note charged off to profit and loss, which he kept in his possession, and he claimed that he returned the money secretly and destroyed the note, while his employer testified that he had not returned any part of the money. Appeal — Preservation oe Grounds — Objections. Error cannot be predicated upon the reception of evidence to which no objection was made below. Embezzlement — Evidence—Other Oeeenses — Admissibility. Upon a prosecution of a bookkeeper for embezzlement, in which the defendant testified that he had subsequently returned the money in small amounts without showing on his books where the money came from, making his cash more at times than the books showed, it is proper on cross-examination to ask if certain persons had not paid him money which he had not credited, even if it did show other offenses, as it tended to explain how the cash came to overrun. Same. Upon a prosecution of embezzlement by a bookkeeper, evidence of other offenses than the one charged is admissible, where it tended to show a general scheme or system adopted in keeping his accounts in furthering his embezzlement.