117 Ark. 108 | Ark. | 1915
(after stating the facts). The Attorney General confesses that the court erred in consolidating the causes for trial. This court, in McClellan v. State, 32 Ark. 609, and in Halley v. State, 108 Ark. 224, has criticised and 'condemned the practice of ■consolidating separate causes under separate indictments for the purpose of trial. In the latter case we said: “While the court would have no authority against the objection of the defendant to try the cases together, ye.t as the record affirmatively shows the defendant expressly consented to it, and inasmuch as the record does not show he. was prejudiced thereby, he can not now be heard to complain of the action of the court which was superinduced by him. ’ ’
In Cook v. State, 80 Ark. 495, the appellant was Charged, among other things, with the larceny of six dollars in money of the value of six dollars. ’ ’ In that case we said: “The indictment describes it as ‘six dolars in money of the value of six dollars,’ without alleging the kind, whether gold, silver or paper, and the evidence goes no further than that in describing it. This is not sufficient, as the statute provides that ‘it shall not be necessary to particularly describe in the indictment the kind of money taken or obtained, further than to allege gold, silver or paper money.’ Kirby’s Digest, § 1844.”
If the indictment had charged, in the language of the statute, supra, that the money embezzled was “gold, silver or paper money, ’ ’ it would have been sufficient. State v. Boyce, 65 Ark. 82; Marshall v. State, 71 Ark. 415. But the indictments did not do this, and hence did not comply with the requirements of the statute.
For the error in overruling appellant’s demurrer to the indictments for embezzlement, and in refusing to grant his prayer for a peremptory instruction on the charge- of false pretenses, the judgments are reversed and the causes are remanded with directions to sustain the demurrer to the indictments for embezzlement, ¡and for a new trial on the charge of false pretenses.