Carver v. State

• Citation: 243 Ind. 183,183 N.E.2d 592
• Decision Date: 28 June 1962
• Docket Number: No. 30149,30149
• Parties: Henry Forrest CARVER, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
• Court: Supreme Court of Indiana

Page 592

183 N.E.2d 592

243 Ind. 183

Henry Forrest CARVER, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.

No. 30149.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

June 28, 1962.

Haggerty & Haggerty, Indianapolis, for appellant.

Edwin K. Steers, Atty. Gen., William D. Ruckelshaus, Asst. Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

ARTERBURN, Chief Justice.

The appellant was charged with the crime of grand larceny of the goods and chattels of Roy Vittorio, namely Ninety Eight (98) cartons of cigarettes of the value of Two Hundred and Twenty Seven Dollars and Nienty Two Cents ($227.92) in lawful money, Thirty Nine (39) Fifty Dollar ($50.00) American Express Company Blank Money Orders, of the value of Nineteen Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($1,950.00) and Sixteen (16) One Hundred Dollar ($100.00) American Express Company Blank Money Orders of the value of Sixteen Hundred Dollars ($1600.00). Upon trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty and the trial court rendered judgment accordingly.

On this appeal it is argued first that appellant was prejudiced by the admission of evidence of other items claimed to have been stolen at the same time, namely, a rubber identification stamp used in connection with the money orders and a green metal box in which the money orders and stamp were kept.

The evidence shows that about five days after the theft a lady brought the rubber stamp in to the owner of the store and stated that the stamp was found in the alley back of her garage in the same block in which the appellant was arrested. The stamp had the owner's name and address on it and the owner testified the rubber stamp was in the money order box on the night before the box, money orders and cigarettes were missing. The money order box containing the blank money orders and unmerous cartons of cagarettes were found in the trunk of the car to which the appellant had the keys at the time of his arrest.

Although the appellant was not charged with taking the money order box or the rubber stamp, the fact that they were part of the property missing following the night of the alleged larceny makes the evidence with reference thereto part of the res gestae as well as competent to prove the corpus delicti. Wharton's Criminal Evidence, p. 627, § 279; Schuble v. State (1948), 226 Ind. 299, 79 N.E.2d 647; Hunt v. State (1939), 216 Ind. 171, 23 N.E.2d 981; Parker v. State (1949), 228 Ind. 1, 88 N.E.2d 556.

The court did not err in its ruling on the evidence in connection with these items.

A conviction of grand larceny in Indiana requires proof that the property alleged to be stolen equals in value at least One Hundred Dollars ($100.00). It is urged in that connection that there were introduced in evidence only six (6) cartons of cigarettes which had a total value of $13.75, and that the money orders, since they were in blank form and had to be delivered before they became effective and negotiable, were of no value.

We...