Pruitt v. State

Citations

• 75 Fla. 448
• 78 So. 425

Syllabus

<p>1. Indictments should be upheld where the crime charged is substantially in the language of the statue- denouncing it and the allegations are not so vague, indistinct (and indefinite as to mislead the accused and embarrass him in the preparation of his defense or expose him after conviction or acquittal to substantial danger of a new prosecution for the same offense.</p> <p>2. An indictment charging the defendant with obtaining money under false pretense should directly and clearly allege that the person from whom the m'oney or other thing of value was received was deceived by the false pretense or false token. Deception is an essential element of the statutory crime of obtaining money under false pretenses, and should not be left to inference in an indictment charging such an offense.</p> <p>3 An indictment for obtaining money under -false pretenses which describes the false token used as “a certain printed 'or lithographed paper” resembling an “ordinary twenty dollar bill of the United Spates of America” is a sufucient description of the false token alleged to have been used by the defendant.</p>