McInnis v. State

Citations

• 97 Miss. 280
• 52 Miss. 634

Syllabus

<p>1. Ckiminal Law and Peocedube. Embezzlement. Statutory offense. Statutory construction.</p> <p>Embezzlement is a statutory and not a common-law crime, and a criminal statute in derogation of the common law must be strictly construed in favor of the accused.</p> <p>2. Same. Same. Double punishment. Two offenses.</p> <p>A criminal statute must be construed against the making of two separate and distinct offenses of the same act, so that double punishment would result, unless such double punishment is clearly within the language and intendment of the statute.</p> <p>3. Same. Same. Code 1906, § 1141.</p> <p>Code 1906, § 1141, making it an offense for any state or county officer to unlawfully convert to his own use any money coming to his hands by virtue of his office, or to fail, when lawfully required, to turn over money according to his legal obligations, creates but the one offense of unlawfully misappropriating funds, and such offense may be shown either by an unlawful conversion thereof, or by an unlawful failure to turn over the same when required by law so to do; and a tax collector, convicted of embezzlement for failing to pay over funds at the end of his term, as required by law, may not be prosecuted for converting such funds to his own use.</p>