Clifton v. State

Citations

• 76 Fla. 244
• 79 So. 707

Syllabus

<p>1. A judgment imposing a fine and containing a provision that in-default of the payment of the fine the defendant be confined in the penitentiary is defective, the alternative sentence should be confinement in the County Jail.</p> <p>2. A motion in arrest of judgment reaches only such errors as appear upon the record and when addressed to the indictment or information is effective only when they wholly fail to charge any offense or their allegations are so vague and uncertain as to embarrass the defendant in the preparation of his defense or expose him 'aftter acquittal or conviction to substantial danger of another prosecution for the same offense.</p> <p>3. A motion in arrest of judgment does not raise the question of the sufficiency of the evidence, nor does it reach a question of variance between the allegation and proof.</p> <p>4. An indictment or information deemed to be defective in point of form because of a faulty allegation of some material fact or element in the crime attempted to be charged should be attacked by demurrer or motion to quash. The point should not be deferred until after verdict and then incorporated in a motion in arrest of judgment.</p> <p>5. An indictment for obtaining money under false pretenses which alleges that the prosecutor was induced to pay and the defendant did then and there receive, the money is sufficient upon a motion in arrest of judgment to show a delivery to and receipt by the defendant of the money alleged to have been obtained.</p> <p>6. The County School Fund is a County fund, the moneys in which are set apart for a special purpose, vie., the maintenance and support of public free schools. The disbursement of the fund is a duty or trust committed to the County Board of Public Instruction, which Board is prohibited by the Constitution from disbursing the money in such fund for any other purpose than the maintenance and support of public free schools.</p> <p>7 To constitute the statutory offense of obtaining ¡property