State v. Leonard

Citations

• 56 Wash. 83
• 105 P. 163
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 852

Syllabus

<p>Indictment and Information — Embezzlement by Public Officer —Distinct Offenses — Certainty. An information charging a public officer with the embezzlement of fees collected in the sum of $165, charges but one offense, and is sufficiently direct and certain as regards the crime charged, although the sum represented different fees collected at different times.</p> <p>Criminal Law — Trial—Offense Under Different Statutes— Election. In a prosecution for embezzlement of fees by a county auditor, it is not error to refuse to require the prosecuting attorney to elect under which of several statutes providing different penalties he will proceed, the acts charged being punishable under any of them.</p> <p>Embezzlement — Of Pees by Salaried County Officers — Sufficiency. An information charging that the defendant is a county auditor who receives a salary and that he collected fees and refused to account for and embezzled the same, charges an offense under Bal. Code, § 1606, making it embezzlement for any salaried county officer to receive fees by virtue of his office and fail to pay the same to the county treasury.</p> <p>Same — Demand—Necessity. In a prosecution of a salaried county auditor for the embezzlement of fees which came into his hands by virtue of his office and which he failed to pay to the county treasurer, it is not necessary to show that any demand was made upon him for the payment of the fees.</p> <p>Same — Intent—Instructions. In a prosecution of a salaried county officer for the embezzlement of fees which he failed to pay into the county treasury, the proposition that a criminal intent is essential is sufficiently covered, where the jury were so instructed, and that they could not convict if the failure to pay was due to neglect or carelessness without an intent to defraud the county.</p> <p>Same — Evidence—Sufficiency. The evidence is sufficient to sustain a conviction of embezzlement by a salaried county auditor for failing to pay over $165 collected fo