State v. Ellerbe
| Decision Date | 29 May 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 39809,39809 |
| Citation | 47 So.2d 30,217 La. 639 |
| Parties | STATE v. ELLERBE. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
D. J. Anders, Winnsboro, for defendant-appellant.
Bolivar E. Kemp, Jr., Atty. Gen., M. E. Culligan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Cameron C. Minard, Dist. Atty., Columbia, for plaintiff-appellee.
Appellant was charged, tried and convicted of the offense of receiving stolen things, as defined by Article 69 of the Criminal Code, Act 43 of 1942, in that he procured, received and concealed five pigs valued at $40, knowing the same to have been the subject of a theft. Following imposition of a twelve month sentence in the State Penitentiary at hard labor, he prosecuted this appeal, relying on seven bills of exception for a reversal.
Appellant filed, in limine, a plea to the jurisdiction of the court contending that, if the offense charged had been committed at all, it took place within Franklin Parish where he had procured the pigs. This plea was submitted to the judge on an agreed statement of facts, reading as follows: '* * * that the five hogs described as the subject of this charge were taken into possession by the defendant, accompanied by another party, in Franklin Parish, Louisiana, on or about the 8th day of October, 1949, and were carried from thence by defendant to the premises in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, occupied by him as a home, and were retained and in possession by defendant at his said premises in Caldwell Parish, until they were located by the officers of Caldwell Parish and identified by the alleged owner thereof; and, further, that the defendant has been charged by a criminal affidavit, by the alleged owner of the animals, with the theft of said animals in Franklin Parish'.
After a consideration of the foregoing, the judge found that the charge was cognizable in Caldwell Parish, being of the opinion that 'the offense of Receiving Stolen Things is a continuing offense, particularly with respect to that phase thereof involving the concealing of the property involved'. To this ruling, appellant reserved Bill of Exception No. 1.
We think that the judge erred. The crime of receiving stolen things is fully consummated when the things are received; State v. Blotner, 197 La. 192, 1 So.2d 74; but concealment and having possession of stolen property are continuing offenses. State v. Schneller, 199 La. 811, 7 So.2d 66. However, it does not necessarily follow that a prosecution for concealment may be had in any parish into which the stolen things are brought. It is provided by Section 9 of Article 1 of our Constitution and repeated in Article 13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1 'that all trials shall take place in the parish in which the offense was committed, unless the venue be changed; * * *'. Accordingly, the test in determining venue is not whether the crime is a continuing one but whether it was perpetrated within the Parish where the prosecution is had.
The statement of facts discloses that the pigs were procured by appellant in Franklin Parish. Unquestionably, then, the crime was committed there as it is well settled that the offense of receiving stolen things is committed at the place where the things are received. State v. Blotner, supra. Hence, Caldwell Parish was without jurisdiction of the prosecution unless it can be said that appellant concealed the pigs there and, thus, also committed the crime in that parish.
But the stipulation of fact does not, in our opinion, exhibit that there was a concealment of the pigs in Caldwell Parish. It merely recites that appellant carried the pigs to his home and retained them in his possession until they were located by the arresting officers. There is not any fact alleged from which an inference could be drawn that appellant hid the pigs from public view or that he otherwise did anything to hinder the owner in his search and investigation of their whereabouts. In this connection, it is apt to observe that Article 69 of the Criminal Code is of narrower scope than its predecessor, Dart's Crim. Stats. (1932) Section 1306, R.S. Section 832, as amended by Act 72 of 1898 a...
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Garcia v. State, 88-205
...of four years." Id. at 97. That case provided justification in broader perspective than did our decision in Hunter. In State v. Ellerbe, 217 La. 639, 47 So.2d 30 (1950), the court opined that pigs which were obtained illegally in Franklin Parish, Louisiana and then taken to Caldwell Parish,......
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United States v. Bozza
...Ala.App. 671, 122 So.2d 165 (1960); People v. Stakem, 40 Cal. 599 (1871); Allison v. Commonwealth, 83 Ky. 254 (1885); State v. Ellerbe, 217 La. 639, 47 So.2d 30 (1950); People v. Zimmer, 174 App.Div. 470, 160 N.Y.S. 459 (1916), aff'd, 220 N.Y. 597, 115 N.E. 1047 (1917); State v. Pray, 30 Ne......
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State v. Coon, 45771
...and Venue, Leon D. Hubert, Jr., Reporter) have assisted us in our study and consideration of the issue presented. In State v. Ellerbe, 217 La. 639, 47 So.2d 30, we stated in a footnote that, 'This proviso (LSA-R.S. 15:13) must perforce be regarded as an aid or guide to the Courts in determi......
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