State v. Rivers

• Citation: 13 N.W. 73,60 Iowa 381
• Parties: STATE OF IOWA v. RIVERS.
• Decision Date: 13 July 1882
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa

60 Iowa 381

13 N.W. 73

STATE OF IOWA

v.RIVERS.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Filed July 13, 1882.

Appeal from Dallas district court.

The defendant was indicted for larceny. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to the penitentiary for 18 months, and he appeals.C. C. Cole and A. R. Smalley, for appellant.

Smith McPherson, Atty. Gen., for the State.

ROTHROCK, J.

1. The indictment was presented on the sixth day of November, 1880, and it was charged therein that the defendant, on the twelfth day of September, 1880, stole 300 bushels of flaxseed and 500 bushels of oats, the property of Stephen Adams. The grain which it is claimed the defendant stole was grown upon a farm in Dallas county, which we infer from the abstract the defendant once owned or had an interest in, but upon which there was a mortgage which had been foreclosed and the property sold, and a sheriff's deed made therefor. Afterwards action was taken by the holder of the sheriff's deed to obtain possession of the premises. Pending this action certain parties were in possession of the land as tenants of some one, but of whom does not clearly appear from the abstract. The tenants, either pending the action for possession or before it was commenced, sowed the farm in flax and oats. Pending the action, and on the twenty-fourth day of April, 1880, Stephen Adams was appointed receiver in said action, to take charge of the real estate in controversy, pending the suit. Afterwards, on the twenty-seventh day of July, 1880, a further order of the court was made, directing receiver to take charge of and control the crops upon the farm, and to harvest and dispose of the same, and to render an account of his doings in the premises.

It is claimed by the state that after said appointment, and after Adams was authorized to take possession and control of the crops, he went upon the premises and made a contract with the tenants by which they were to harvest and thresh the oats and flax, and keep an account of the expense thereof, and haul the grain to the market at a specified price per wagon load; and that, being thus in possession of the grain, the defendant, by stealth, caused some of it to be concealed under hay and straw in a slough and in a cave, and hauled nearly all of it to market and sold it as his own, and appropriated the proceeds to his own use. On the trial of the case in the court below no record evidence was introduced showing that Adams had given bond and qualified as receiver. He was permitted to testify as a witness that he had so done, and this is made the ground of complaint by appellant. We think that there was no necessity upon the part of the state to prove that a bond had been given by Adams and that he was sworn as receiver. That he was an acting receiver under a proper order of the court, and that defendant, long before the commission of the acts with which he is charged, knew that he was so acting, abundantly appears from the evidence The defendant was arrested and imprisoned for contempt in resisting the receiver before it is claimed he committed the larceny.

2. Section 3915 of the Code is as follows: “If any person knowingly and without authority of law take, carry away, secrete, or destroy any property or chattels while the same are in the lawful custody of any sheriff, coroner, marshal, constable, or other officer, and rightfully held by such officer by virtue of any execution, writ of attachment, or other legal process issued under the laws of Iowa, he shall be deemed guilty of larceny, and shall be punished, when the value of the property so taken, carried away, secreted, or destroyed exceeds the sum of $20, by imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than one year; and when the value of the same does not exceed $20, by fine...