77 So. 599 | La. | 1918
Defendant prosecutes this appeal from a conviction and sentence upon a charge of embezzlement.
The objection to the jurors was not well founded and was properly overruled. State v. Addison, 134 La. 650, 64 South. 497; State v. Mayfield, 104 La. 173, 28 South. 997; State v. Bush, 117 La. 476, 41 South. 793.
(1) That “the indictment does not define the nature and cause of the accusation against the accused”; and (2) that it “does not contain the necessary and essential allegations to support a conviction.”
The indictment reads:
“That one C. 0. Briggs, * * * he being then and there an employé of A. R. Abels, of Ponchatoula, La., did, by virtue of his said agency and employment, receive, have, and take into his possession and have intrusted to his care and keeping, for and in the name of the said A. R. Abels, his principal, 38 shares of stock, of the value of $10 each, in the Merchants’ & Farmers’ Bank & Trust Company of Ponchatoula, La., which said certificates of stock, so received as aforesaid, he, the said C. C. Briggs, did then and there feloniously and willfully use, dispose of, and otherwise conceal and embezzle, contrary to the form of the statute,” etc.
The statute applicable to the case is Act 31 of 1888, amending and re-enacting R. S. 905, and reading (in part) as follows:
“Any servant, clerk, broker, agent, consignee, trustee, * * * bailee, curator, testamentary executor, administrator, tutor, or any person holding any office of trust under the executive or judicial authority of this state, or in the service of any public or private corporation or company, who shall wrongfully use, dispose of, conceal, or otherwise embezzle any money, bill, note, check, order, draft, bond, receipt, bill of lading, or any other property which he shall have received for another,” etc.
Counsel’s criticism of the indictment is that it uses the word “willfully” where the statute uses “wrongfully,” and that the one is not the equivalent in meaning of the other; but the fact that “feloniously” is coupled with “willfully” is not taken into account, though it can hardly be denied that “feloniously and willfully” import wrongful intent, even more certainly than “wrongfully,” alone, from which we conclude that it is better form. State v. Wolff, 34 La. Ann. 1154; State v. O’Kean, 35 La. Ann. 903; State v. Pellerin, 118 La. 554, 43 South. 159. The motion in arrest was therefore properly overruled, and the motion for a new trial presents nothing that has not been considered.
Judgment affirmed.