Johnson v. State
Supreme Court of Alabama
Appeal from the City Court of Anniston. Tried before the Hon. James W. Lapsley. The appellant was tried and convicted under an indictment, which charged that he, “with intent to steal, broke into and entered a railroad car, the property of the Alabama Mineral Railroad Company, a-corporation under the laws of the State of Alabama.”
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Appeal from the City Court of Anniston. Tried before the Hon. James W. Lapsley. The appellant was tried and convicted under an indictment, which charged that he, “with intent to steal, broke into and entered a railroad car, the property of the Alabama Mineral Railroad Company, a-corporation under the laws of the State of Alabama.” On the.trial of the cause, as is shown by the bill of exceptions, the evidence introduced for the State tended to show that the defendant broke into a railroad car that was standing upon the track of, and was in possession of, the Alabama Mineral Railroad Company,…
1Opinion of the CourtHead, J.
Considered with reference to the evidence of Knox, the second charge requested by the defendant ought to have been given. If the testimony of Knox was accepted by the jury as true, there was a failure to establish the averment of ownership as contained in the indictment. There was, in such case, neither property, genera] or special, in, nor possession of, the car in the Alabama Mineral Railroad Company.
We suggest, that in cases like this, where there is doubt as to the ownership of property, the subject of a crime, the pleader may obviate all difficulty by alleging, in the indictment, several…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Matthews v. StateAlabama Court of Appeals · 1921
- Gilbert v. StateAlabama Court of Appeals · 1923