State v. Todd, Cr. No. 93.

• Decision Date: 18 August 1932
• Docket Number: Cr. No. 93.
• Citation: State v. Todd, 62 N.D. 479, 244 N.W. 25 (N.D. 1932)
• Parties: STATE v. TODD.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

62 N.D. 479

244 N.W. 25

STATE

v.TODD.

Cr. No. 93.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Aug. 18, 1932.

Syllabus by the Court.

(1) In a prosecution for larceny of a cow, where the information charged the crime to have been committed on or about the 15th day of December, 1930, the evidence is examined, and held to warrant the inference that the defendant's possession of the cow from April to December (when she was butchered) was accompanied by stealth, was wrongful, and not that of a bailee.

(2) Under section 10841 of the Compiled Laws of 1913, a conviction cannot be had upon the testimony of an accomplice unless he is corroborated by other evidence tending to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense.

(3) It is not necessary that corroborative evidence should directly confirm any particular fact testified to by the accomplice, and where the accomplice is strongly corroborated by facts and circumstances connecting the accused, the conviction should be sustained though the corroborative evidence be circumstantial.

Appeal from District Court, Williams County; George H. Moellring, Judge.

D. I. Todd was convicted of grand larceny, and he appeals from the judgment and from an order denying a new trial.

Affirmed.A. J. Knox, of Williston, and Arthur Le Sueur, of Minneapolis, Minn., for appellant.

James Morris, Atty. Gen., and Arthur J. Gronna, State's Atty., of Williston, for the State.

BIRDZELL, J.

The defendant was convicted of the crime of grand larceny and he appeals from the judgment. The information charges the felonious taking from Fred Summers, the owner, of one three year old cow of the value of $60, with the intent to deprive the true owner thereof. The crime is alleged to have been committed on or about the 15th day of December, 1930. The circumstances of the alleged theft, as they appear in the evidence, are substantially as follows:

Fred Summers, a rancher living in Billings county about eighty miles from Williston, in the winter of 1929 and 1930 wintered some cattle in Williams county. He bought some hay of the defendant Todd and in the latter part of the winter or early spring fed it to his cattle upon the Todd ranch, which was situated approximately five miles southeast of Williston. On or about the 7th day of April Summers and his hired men went to the Todd ranch for the purpose of removing the cattle. They drove the herd away about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and camped that night about three miles east of the Todd ranch. It seems that two of the cows had calves which were left at the Todd ranch and on this account they strayed away from the herd and went back. They were later missed, and Summers went back and found one cow and the calves but did not find the cow in question. The missing cow was branded. One Grenno, who worked for Todd, later told the authorities that he and Todd had butchered the cow in question upon the Todd ranch in December, 1930, and sold the meat. The place of the butchering was located. The hide was found and the portion of it bearing the brand was cut out. Grenno knew that the cow in question belonged to Summers, and he testified concerning his participation in the butchering and in the disposition of the meat. He also testified concerning the putting of the cow in a shed the next morning after the cattle had been driven away and keeping her there for two days under the direction of Todd, later removing her to a pasture, where she was kept with the defendant's cattle. During the time she was in the shed, according to this evidence, Todd told Summers he thought he had seen her in the northwest corner of the field. Under Grenno's testimony he was an accomplice.

[1] It is urged upon this appeal that the information does not charge the crime of appropriating...