State v. McComas

Appeal from a judgment of conviction of grand larceny. In December, 1926, James G. McComas and Albert Sylling were charged with stealing twenty-four head of sheep from one Tom Hovland. On pleas of “not guilty” the defendants were brought to trial in February, 1928; each defendant was found guilty and his punishment fixed at from one and one-half to three years in the state prison.

The record discloses that the defendants are farmers who had not engaged in the sheep business prior to 1926. In March of that year Oscar A. Nepstead sold to defendants 798 head of sheep and retained a mortgage on…