State v. Sherman

Indictment eor Larceny — Allegation oe Ownership. — An indictment for larceny is not demurrable for alleging the ownership of the property in the estate of a deceased person. Boarman v. State, 66 Ark. 65, followed.

Error to Phillips Circuit Court. Hance N. Hutton, Judge. STATEMENT BY THE COURT. At the September term, 1901, of the St. Francis circuit court, the grand jury returned against appellee an indictment in the following terms (omitting caption): “The grand jury of St. Francis county, in the name and by the authority of the state of Arkansas, accuse Tweed Sherman of the crime of grand larceny, committed as follows, to-wit: The said Tweed Sherman on the 1st day of June, 1901, in the county of St. Francis aforesaid, then and there one steer, the property of the E. S. Hudspath estate, unlawfully and feloniously did take, steal and carry away, against the peace and dignity of the state of Arkansas.” Appellee took a change of venue to the Phillips circuit court where, on the 10th of October, 1901, he was put upon trial before a jury. When the jury had been sworn to try the case, he moved the court to instruct “the jury to return a verdict of not guilty, * * * because the allegations of the indictment did not constitute a cause of action against” him. The court, over the objection of the state, sustained the motion, and'instructed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. The jury accordingly returned a verdict of not guilty, upon which judgment discharging appellee was rendered. The state then, by her prosecuting attorney, prayed, and was granted, an appeal.