Strobhar v. State

Citations

• 55 Fla. 167

Syllabus

<p>1. In a prosecution for embezzlement, it is sufficient for the indictment to charge that the property embezzled came into the defendant’s possession and was under his care “by nature of” his employment, although the statute makes it a crime to embezzle property which came into his possession and was his care “by reason of” his said employment.</p> <p>2. In an indictment for embezzlement, it is sufficient to describe the defendant as a servant or' agent, the terms used in the statute, without setting out in detail his duties or the purposes for which he was employed.</p> <p>3 In an indictment for embezzlement, the words, “of which corporation, he, the said J. N. S. was then and there the servant and agent” is a sufficient allegation that the defendant was the servant and agent of the corporation previously named.</p> <p>4. In an indictment for embezzlement, ownership of personal property is usually alleged by using the words “of the moneys of” the owner, or “of the property of,” or “of the goods and chattels of.” The words “belonging to” are sufficient.</p> <p>5. Bad grammar does not render an indictment ill. A relative pronoun must be referred to that antecedent to which the tenor of the instrument and the principles of law require that it should relate, whether exactly according to the rules of syntax or not. In other respects also, the court, for determining the meaning, will consult sound sense to the disregard of captious objections; and of two otherwise permissible renderings, it will accept the one sustaining the proceeding.</p> <p>6. Where the grand jury does not know the specific description of money alleged to have been embezzled it may so aver, and the allegation of the embezzlement of a stated number of dollars, followed by the statement that a more particular description thereof is unknown to the indicting grand jury is all that is required to make the description sufficient.</p> <p>7. No indictment will be quashed on account of any defect in its form