Shaffer v. State
| Decision Date | 04 November 1932 |
| Docket Number | 28301 |
| Citation | 244 N.W. 921,124 Neb. 7 |
| Parties | ALBERT SHAFFER v. STATE OF NEBRASKA |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
ERROR to the district court for Dodge county: FREDERICK L. SPEAR JUDGE. Affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. Upon review of a criminal action to this court, the errors relied upon for reversal must be so designated in the brief and definitely and specifically set forth and discussed therein.
2. The language of an information is in substantial compliance with the statute, where it alleges that a defendant did " unlawfully, wilfully, and feloniously steal, take, lead, and carry away one black Holstein calf, weight from about 300 pounds to about 400 pounds, of the value of $20, the personal property of one J. Merrell Shephard, * * * the owner thereof, and against his will."
3. Upon review of proceedings in a criminal prosecution, harmless errors are not sufficient grounds for the reversal of a conviction.
4. Where defendant in a criminal prosecution denies his previous conviction of a felony, the record of such a conviction is admissible in evidence, though pending upon a proceeding in error not yet determined.
5. Evidence examined, discussed in the opinion, and held, that the verdict is sustained thereby.
Error to District Court, Dodge County; Spear, Judge.
Albert Shaffer was convicted of cattle theft, and he brings error.
Judgment affirmed.
Joseph E. Daly, for plaintiff in error.
C. A. Sorensen, Attorney General, and Clifford L. Rein, contra.
Heard before ROSE, DEAN, GOOD, EBERLY, DAY and PAINE, JJ.
An information was filed in the district court for Dodge county against Albert Shaffer, the defendant, wherein it is charged that on or about the evening of April 17 or the morning of April 18, 1931, Shaffer and one Jerry Mack unlawfully and feloniously stole a black Holstein calf, of the alleged value of $ 20, without the consent or knowledge of J. Merrell Shephard, the owner. A demurrer to the information was filed by the defendant and overruled by the court. Subsequently, upon submission, the jury found the defendant guilty as charged. Thereupon the court sentenced the defendant to serve a term of three years in the penitentiary, the sentence to commence at the expiration of a former sentence imposed upon him for a like offense. The defendant prosecutes error.
Fourteen assignments of alleged error are set out in the defendant's brief, but it is not stated therein that such errors are relied upon for a reversal. Elsewhere it is stated: "Space allotted to a brief * * * will not afford the opportunity to present a statement in connection with each of the errors appearing in the record and of the law pertaining thereto, but the appellant relies upon each and every error appearing in the record and presents the entire record and the law in this appeal." It is a fundamental rule that, upon review, all errors relied upon for reversal should be designated in the brief and definitely and specifically set forth and discussed therein. We therefore pass only upon those assignments of alleged error upon which the defendant apparently places principal reliance for a reversal.
The sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the conviction is attacked by the defendant. A review of the record, however, discloses the following material facts:
The defendant was engaged in the buying and selling of live stock and produce prior to the time in question here. It appears that Jerry Mack, named in the information with the defendant, was employed at various times by him to assist in loading and unloading cattle and at other odd jobs. Mack confessed to his part in the theft of the black calf in question and implicated the defendant, who was thereupon arrested. According to Mack's statement before the jury, he and the defendant stole the calf from the pasture of J. Merrell Shephard on the night of April 17, and it was taken with seven other calves to Meadow Grove and there sold at a public sale. Mack testified that he did not see the defendant until after the sale, when he was shown a sales slip which disclosed that the calf had brought $ 13.75, of which amount he received $ 2 at the time, and $ 3 at a later period.
The owner of the calf testified that it was missed from the pasture on the morning of April 18, and that some evidence was seen where the calf might have been led or dragged away from the pasture near the road. He and his hired man identified the calf at the farm home of the man to whom it was sold at the sale in Meadow Grove.
The defendant admitted that Jerry Mack had been in his employ at various times, but he denied that they were together when the calf is alleged to have been stolen. He...
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