James v. State, 42732

• Decision Date: 17 February 1964
• Docket Number: No. 42732,42732
• Citation: James v. State, 160 So.2d 695, 248 Miss. 777 (Miss. 1964)
• Parties: Ed JAMES v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 695

160 So.2d 695

248 Miss. 777

Ed JAMES v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 42732.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Feb. 17, 1964.

Murray L. Williams, Water Valley, for appellant.

Joe T. Patterson, Atty. Gen., by G. Garland Lyell, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

ETHRIDGE, Justice.

Ed James, appellant, was convicted in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial District of Chickasaw County of the grand larceny of a calf. On this appeal he argues that the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, and asserts errors in two instructions.

James worked at a filling station in Pontotoc, in Pontotoc County. He asked Carl Aaron and Nicki Moore to get a calf for him for his deep freeze, and they indicated they would. James bought a rope and furnished it to Aaron and Moore for the purpose of stealing a calf. On a Tuesday night, Aaron and Moore went to Derwood McCullough's cattle farm in the adjacent Chickasaw County, broke a lock on the gate, and tried to get a calf into Moore's car, which was not large enough. They then drove back to the filling station in Pontotoc, told James about it, and that they were going to get Aaron's car for the theft. They had advised defendant that they were going to steal the calf, from Earl Aaron's pasture, which was next to McCullough's farm. James told them to be back by 11:30 that night, and Aaron and Moore then went back to Chickasaw County, stole the calf, loaded it in the car, brought it to James' place, and put it in his pen around midnight. James helped unload the calf at his place, and gave Moore $5 and Aaron $8 for it. The next day it got out of the pen, and James told the other two to look for it, or else they all would be in trouble. Several days later, McCullough telphoned James, and on the next Sunday James put the calf in his truck and delivered it to McCullough.

This and other evidence in the record established the fact that appellant, Aaron and Moore made an agreement that the latter two would go steal a calf for appellant. He furnished them with a rope, and knew where they were going. When they returned before making the second trip, James unquestionably knew all of the essential details. The jury was warranted in finding that he instigated and procured the theft, and aided and abetted in the theft itself, and was therefore a principal. Miss. Code 1942, Rec., Sec. 1995. The defendant did not testify, and offered only character witnesses.

One may be guilty of larceny without being present at the time and place of the theft, if he in some guilty way participates in it, as where it appears that accused actually advised and procured commission of the crime, encouraged, aided and abetted its commission, and helped to plan the theft with the understanding that he would receive some of the benefits from it. 52 C.J.S. Larceny Secs. 57, 154; 14 Am.Jur., Criminal Law, Secs. 95-101; Shedd v....