People v. Thompson

ADAMS, P. J.

Appellant, who was a justice of the peace in Westwood Township in Lassen County, was charged in an indictment as follows: In count one with a violation of subdivision 3 of section 424 of the Penal Code, in that he had kept false accounts relating to the receipt, etc., of public moneys; and in counts two, three, four and five with violations of section 504 of the Penal Code, in that on four different dates he had embezzled moneys which had come into his possession as such justice of the peace. He demurred to the indictment, but the demurrer was overruled. He entered a plea of not guilty and was thereafter tried by a jury, which returned verdicts of guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to the state prison for the term prescribed by law, on each count, the sentences to run concurrently. No motion for a new trial was made. This appeal is taken from the judgment.

Grounds for appeal urged are (1) that the trial court erred in overruling his demurrer to the first count of the indictment; (2) and (3) that the court erred in admitting certain evidence; and (4) that said court erred in the giving of a certain instruction.

The charge contained in the first count of the indictment was in substance that defendant, on or about August 28, 1947, did wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and knowingly keep false accounts relating to the receipt, safekeeping, transfer and disbursement of public moneys, he then being the duly elected

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and qualified justice of the peace of Westwood Township, and, as such, charged by law with the receipt, safekeeping, transfer and disbursement of public moneys of the said justice’s court.

This charge, it is asserted, does not comply substantially with the requirements of sections 950, 951 and 952 of the Penal Code, in that it does not use ordinary or concise language in such a manner as to enable a person of common understanding to know what was intended, or to enable defendant to plead the judgment as a bar to further prosecution; that it does not reveal the nature of the accounts, or in what manner they were kept falsely; and that, though it employs the language of section 424 of the Penal Code, it is, nevertheless, insufficient. Appellant cites several cases, which, with one exception, were decided prior to the amendment of section 952 of the Penal Code in 1927 and 1929, which section as amended liberalized the rules of pleading in criminal cases, and provides that in charging an offense, each count shall be sufficient if it contains in substance a statement that the accused has committed some public offense therein specified; and that it may be in the words of the enactment describing the offense or declaring the matter to be a public offense, or in any words sufficient to give the accused notice of the offense of which he is accused. The sufficiency of an indictment is not now to be tested by the rigorous rules of the common law nor by the rules existent prior to the 1927 and 1929 amendments to our statutes governing pleadings in criminal cases. See