Melvin v. State

• Decision Date: 12 July 1904
• Citation: Melvin v. State, 120 Ga. 490, 48 S.E. 198 (Ga. 1904)
• Parties: MELVIN v. STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

48 S.E. 198

120 Ga. 490

MELVIN

v.STATE.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

July 12, 1904.

LARCENY—INDICTMENT—DESCRIPTION OF PROPERTY.

1. An indictment for simple larceny described the property alleged to have been stolen as "one shovel, of the value of one dollar." Held, that a special demurrer on the ground that the description was too general should have been sustained.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from Superior Court, Bulloch County; A. F. Daly, Judge.

R. J. Melvin was convicted of larceny, and brings error. Reversed.

R Lee Moore, for plaintiff in error.

B. T. Rawlings, Sol. Gen., for the State.

COBB, J. Descriptive averments in indictments are to be considered in the light of the presumption that the accused is innocent. Property alleged to have been stolen should be described with sufficient definiteness to enable the accused to ascertain the specific charge he is called on to meet, and, in the event of a second prosecution, to plead his former acquittal or conviction. If the accused is satisfied to go to trial on an indictment for larceny containing a mere general description of the property alleged to have been stolen, he cannot complain after conviction. But where, on arraignment, he objects to the general description by special demurrer, the indictment should be quashed. The description "one shovel" is entirely too general. There are numerous varieties of shovels, ranging from the tiny implement used by the child in his play upon the sand pile to the immense appliance propelled by steam and used in mines and elsewhere. The accused was entitled to know...