130 P. 850 | Wyo. | 1913
The plaintiff in error, Daniel Thomson, was informed against, tried and convicted in the District Court of Weston County, of the crime of stealing a horse, and was sentenced to a term in the penitentiary. He brings the case here on error, seeking a reversal of that judgment.
The information was filed under the provisions of Section 5832, Comp. Stat. 1910, which provides, “Whoever steals any horse, mule, sheep or neat cattle, of value, * * * shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than ten years.” The information charged the defendant below, Thomson, with stealing one horse (describing it) of value the property of James Ryan. On the trial the jury returned the following verdict: “We, the jury being lawfully impaneled and duly sworn in the above entitled cause, do find the defendant guilty as charged in the information.” The sufficiency of the verdict to support the judgment is the important question in the'case. The statute provides, “When the indictment charges an offense against the property of another by larceny, embezzlement, or obtaining under false pretenses, the jury, on conviction, shall ascertain and declare in their verdict the value of the property stolen, embezzled or falsely obtained.” (Sec. 6252, Comp. Stat, 1910.) The Attorney General argues that this section of the statute does not apply to the case at bar, for the reason that horse stealing is declared to be a felony, regardless of the value of the animal stolen, and for the further reason that at the time Section 6252, supra, was
The Code of Criminal Procedure containing what is now Section 6252, Comp. Stat. 19-10, was adopted by the First Territorial Legislature of Wyoming and was approved December 10, 1869. (Sec. 156, Ch. 74, Title 13, Laws 1869.) The Crimes Act passed by the same legislature and approved on the same day did not make the stealing of a horse of less value than twenty-five dollars a felony, but did make the obtaining of property, of whatever value, by false pretenses, a felony. (Sec. 139, Ch. 3, Title 10, Laws 1869.) So that what is said, in the above quotation, by the Supreme Court of Ohio.applies with equal force to our statute and need not be repeated.
The giving of certain instructions to the jury and the refusal to give others requested by defendant are assigned as error. We have considered the instructions given and think they fairly presented the law of the case to the jury on the evidence, with the exception that the jury should have been instructed that, if they found the defendant guilty they should ascertain and declare in their verdict the value
For the reasons stated the judgment of the District Court is reversed and the case remanded for a new trial.
Reversed.