228 Wis. 513 | Wis. | 1938
The following opinion was filed May 17, 1938:
The plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as the “defendant,” was convicted in the circuit court for Washington county of the offense of embezzlement and sentenced to imprisonment in the state’s prison at Waupun for the term of one year. He assigns as error, (1) refusal of the court to discharge him because the evidence was insufficient to constitute the offense of embezzlement; and (2) refusal to discharge him because the circuit court for Washington county was without jurisdiction to- try him.
(1) Under (1) two' claims are made: (a) That the crime committed was larceny, and that prooí of larceny will not support a conviction for embezzlement; and (b) that the complainant gave the defendant permission to use the money claimed to' have been embezzled.
(a) The defendant received in Milwaukee a check for $1,100 drawn on the First Wisconsin National Bank of Milwaukee payable to the order of the complainant, cashed it at that bank, and deposited the cash in his own name and to his own credit in another Milwaukee bank in which he kept an account and checked it out and applied it to his own
(b) The defendant is an “adjuster” of personal injury claims and resides in Milwaukee. The complainant resides in Washington county and had a claim for personal injuries sustained in an automobile collision. The defendant “contacted” complainant when he was confined by his injuries in a hospital, and later at his home. The complainant accepted the defendant’s offer to handle the claim for twenty-five per
Counsel for the defendant contends that the Dix Case does not apply here because after that case was decided the provision, now the last sentence of sec. 343.20 (2), Stats., was enacted:
“The offense of embezzlement may be prosecuted and punished in any county in which the person charged had possession of the property or thing alleged to have been embezzled.”
This provision was enacted by ch. 182 of the revisor’s bill of 1897, and first appears at the end of sec. 4418, R. S. 1898. The provision does not have the effect claimed by counsel. It does not limit, but extends, the venue in embezzlement.
By the Court. — The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
A motion for a rehearing was denied,, without costs, on June 25, 1938.