127 Iowa 680 | Iowa | 1905
that said Cy. Ashpole, on or about the 1st day of August in the ^ear of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and three, in the county aforesaid, and at various and other times and dates, the exact dates and times of which are to this grand jufiy unknown, between the said 1st day of August, 1903, and the finding of this indictment, without the written consent of the landlord, did willfully and feloniously, and with intent to defraud, sell, conceal, and dispose of grain and other*682 annual products, being oats and corn, to -the value of sixty dollars and over, upon which, there was then and there, and is at the time of the finding of this' indictment, a landlord’s lien for unpaid rent; said grain and products being then and there raised and grown during the season of 1903 on the premises known as the “ Watts Farm,” in section thirty-one (S. 31), township ninety-nine (T. 99), range twenty-five ('.R. 25), Winnebago county, Iowa; the said defendant, Cy. Ashpole, being then and there the tenant occupying said premises — and that cash rent to the amount of four hundred fifty dollars was then and there due thereon to the landlord and owner of said premises, to-wit, Mrs. Lillie Watt, to the amount of four hundred fifty dollars, for the rent pf said premises for the season of 1903, which was wholly unpaid.
This includes as many offenses as there were sales, con-cealments, or dispositions made of the property between the dates named, for there is no averment that all were a part of one transaction, and in furtherance of a single design to defraud. Indeed, the trial proceeded on the theory that distinct and separate sales might be shown, and all lumped in together, in determining the amount of property appropriated. The indictment is bad for duplicity. The authorities cited by the State are not in conflict with this conclusion. In State v. Pierce, 77 Iowa, 245, the indictment was construed not to allege different conversions of property at different times; and in State v. Larson, 85 Iowa, 659, the larceny charged was of property belonging to different persons, but stolen in one act.
Some other questions are raised, including a contention that tbe act under which' defendant was indicted is unconstitutional; but, in view of .the disposition made of the case, we do not deem it desirable to pass upon them at this time. — Reversed.