People v. Smith

The defendant was charged by information with the crime of grand larceny, committed in the county of Mendocino, in the month of December, 1894, by stealing a brindle steer, which “ was then and there the personal property of another, belonging to and being then owned by Joseph Elledge and Mrs. M. J. Elledge, as executor and executrix of the estate of W. C. Elledge, deceased.” He was found guilty as charged, and the judgment was that he be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for the term of four years. From that judgment and an order denying his motion for a new trial he has appealed.

There was no error in denying the defendant’s motion to set aside the information, or in overruling the de *335 murrer interposed to it. The motion was based upon the theory that the defendant had not been legally held to answer for the offense charged, because in the complaint filed with the committing magistrate, the steer alleged to have been stolen was described as “belonging to and being owned by the estate of W. C. Elledge, deceased,” and in support of this theory the case of People v. Hall, 19 Cal. 425 , is cited. But whatever may have been the law in 1861, when that case was decided,…