State v. Laird

Citations

• 79 Kan. 681
• 100 P. 637
• 1909 Kan. LEXIS 265

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Larceny—Ownership of the Property—Wheat in a Freight-car on a Railway Side-track. Where a freight-car loaded with wheat is standing upon the side-track of a railway company for the .purpose of being switched by the railway company to an adjacent mill, where it is to be unloaded, and, while the car is so situated, wheat is stolen therefrom, the railway company is the owner of the wheat taken to the extent that a charge of larceny under section 2073 of the General Statutes of 1901, predicated upon such ownership, will be sustained.</p> <p>2. Public Documents—Transcript of Evidence Taken at Preliminary Examination by County Attorney’s Stenographer. Where the state furnishes the county attorney with a stenographer, who takes the evidence given at a preliminary examination for and under the direction of the county attorney, and afterward transcribes the same for the county attorney, who uses it in the examination of witnesses on the trial of the same case in the district court, such transcript is not a public document, but is the private property of the county attorney, and the attorney for the defendant has no legal right to the possession or use thereof.</p> <p>3. Criminal Procedure—Statement to Jury—Irrelevant Matters. It is not error for the court, where a minor is being tried for a crime, to prevent counsel from discussing, when stating the case to the jury, facts which are immaterial and evidently intended to excite the sympathy of the jury, as that the defendant’s mother is a widow; that he is good to her; that he is industrious, and gives his money to her; and that the punishment fixed by law for the offense charged is very severe.</p> <p>4. -Discretion of the Trial Court. A trial court has a wide discretion in controlling the manner in which trials are conducted before it, and a reviewing court will not interfere in the exercise of such discretion unless the rights of a litigant are prejudiced thereby.</p> <p>5. Larceny—Proof.