State v. Leedy

• Decision Date: 07 May 1888
• Citation: 8 S.W. 245,95 Mo. 76
• Parties: The State v. Leedy, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

8 S.W. 245

95 Mo. 76

The State v. Leedy, Appellant

Supreme Court of Missouri

May 7, 1888

Appeal from Jasper Circuit Court. -- Hon. M. G. McGregor, Judge.

Affirmed.

T. B Haughawout for appellant.

B. G Boone, Attorney General, for the state.

OPINION

Brace J.

The defendant was indicted and convicted in the circuit court of Jasper county of larceny in a dwelling-house and sentenced to the penitentiary for two years.

The indictment charged the defendant with feloniously stealing a pair of shoes at the county aforesaid, the property of one Robert Owens, in the dwelling-house of the said Robert Owens, then and there being. The testimony tended to prove that the defendant stole the shoes; that they were of the value of eight dollars; that they were the property of Robert Owens; that they were taken from a room in a house in which the said Owens resided with his mother and sister; that the property was owned by one Divers, step-father of the said Owens, who bought it for the said Owens and placed him in charge of it; that said Owens was in charge of said house, and carrying on a hotel business therein under a city license issued to said Divers; that the room from which the shoes were taken was used as the office of the hotel, in which Owens kept cigars, oranges, peanuts, etc., for sale, for which he had a merchant's license. On the trial, exceptions were taken to instructions given and to the refusal of the court to give instructions asked by the defendant containing propositions of law the converse of those given. The questions raised by the exceptions are embraced in the following two instructions refused by the court:

"1. If the jury believe from the evidence that the room from which the shoes were taken was used as a store where cigars oranges, and peanuts, and other merchandise were kept for sale, the said room was not a dwelling-house, and the jury cannot convict the defendant of grand larceny."

"2. If the jury believe from the evidence that John Divers, the step-father of the witness, Robert Owens, was the owner of the hotel known as the 'English Kitchen,' and that the same was a hotel, and that the said Divers had the license to run said hotel, and the wife of said Divers was residing in said hotel at the time, then the variance as to the ownership of said house is fatal, and the jury cannot convict the defendant of grand larceny."

We find no error in the refusal of the court to...