Ward v. State

• Decision Date: 19 December 1927
• Docket Number: 77
• Citation: 300 S.W. 451,175 Ark. 870
• Parties: WARD v. STATE
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

300 S.W. 451

175 Ark. 870

WARD v. STATE

No. 77

Supreme Court of Arkansas

December 19, 1927

Appeal from Howard Circuit Court; B. E. Isbell, Judge; affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

H W. Applegate, Attorney General, and Darden Moose, Assistant, for appellee.

OPINION

HUMPHREYS, J.

Appellant was indicted, tried and convicted in the circuit court of Howard County for the crime of grand larceny, and as a punishment therefor, was adjudged to serve a term of two years in the State Penitentiary, from which is this appeal.

Appellant has filed no brief, but, in the motion for a new trial filed by him in the circuit court, he challenged the sufficiency of the evidence and law to sustain the judgment.

Appellant was indicted jointly with Alvin Cecil for stealing one inner tube of the value of $ 2, one rim of the value of $ 2.50, one casing of the value of $ 20, and one set of tools of the value of $ 10, from Doctor J. I. Philpot. The undisputed evidence showed that the property in question was stolen from Dr. J. I. Philpot on the night of the 27th day of May, 1927, and that it exceeded $ 10 in value.

Alvin Cecil, appellant's brother- in-law and alleged accomplice, voluntarily testified that appellant came to his house on the afternoon of May 27, 1927; that, early in the evening, they went in witness' car to Umpire, where appellant got out; that witness went to Boone Morris' home, a mile and a quarter southwest of Umpire; that witness returned between eleven and twelve o'clock, overtaking appellant 200 yards from Umpire, in sight of Dr. Philpot's home; that appellant had a casing, tube, rim and some tools, which he put in witness' car; that he told witness that he had got them off Dr. Philpot's car; that witness let appellant have his car to take them away.

Other witnesses testified to facts and circumstances in corroboration of the testimony of Alvin Cecil.

There is sufficient evidence in the record to sustain the verdict and judgment.

We have carefully examined the instructions given by the court and have concluded that they fully presented the issues and correctly declared the law applicable to the facts in the case.

The motion filed by appellant for a new trial in the circuit court assigned other alleged errors, which will be determined in the order mentioned.

First. Appellant alleged as error the severance of the joint charge against Alvin Cecil and himself. This was allowable under § 3141 of Crawford & Moses' Digest, which is as follows:

"When two or more defendants are jointly indicted for any criminal offense, the attorney of the State may sever the trial of such joint defendants when he deems it proper."

Second. Appellant alleged as error the admission of the testimony of Dr. Philpot with reference to missing a kit of tools consisting of wrenches, screw-drivers, hammers, etc., because the indictment did not mention or describe any particular tools. The indictment was not too general to charge a crime, and proof of particular tools did not constitute a...