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People v. Ashworth, 220 A.D. 498, 222 N.Y.S. 24

Facts

Harry Ashworth, the mill superintendent of A-O Worsted Company, and his brother Alfred Ashworth, the vice president of Midland Wool Combing Company, entered into agreements with the Lockport Felt Company to comb and spin wool. The spinning was done using the A-O Company's facilities without the knowledge of its officers, except for Harry Ashworth. The defendants were indicted for conspiracy and grand larceny, accused of secretly appropriating the A-O Company's resources for their own benefit.

The defendant Harry Ashworth was the mill superintendent and general manager of the A-O Worsted Company, Inc., and his brother, the defendant Alfred Ashworth, was the vice president and principal stockholder of the Midland Wool Combing Company, Inc. The Lockport Felt Company, of Newfane, N. Y., made an agreement with these defendants for the combing by the Midland Company of approximately 20,000 pounds of raw wool. The wool was subsequently shipped from Newfane, and delivered to the Midland Company at Salamanca, and combed.

Issue

Did the indictment properly allege conspiracy and grand larceny, and was the use of the A-O Worsted Company's spinning facilities subject to larceny under the law?

Did the indictment properly allege conspiracy and grand larceny, and was the use of the A-O Worsted Company's spinning facilities subject to larceny under the law?

Rule

Under Penal Law § 1290, larceny involves taking or appropriating property with the intent to deprive the true owner. Conspiracy requires an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy to be alleged and proven.

Penal Law, § 1290, reads in part as follows: 'A person who, with the intent to deprive or defraud the true owner of his property, or of the use and benefit thereof, or to appropriate the same to the use of the taker, or of any other person: '1. Takes from the possession of the true owner, or of any other person; or obtains from such possession by color or aid of fraudulent or false representation or pretense, or of any false token or writing; or secretes, withholds, or appropriates to his own use, or that of any person other than the true owner, any money, personal property, thing in action, evidence of debt or contract, or article of value of any kind; * * * 'Steals such property, and is guilty of larceny.'

Analysis

The court found that the indictment was defective because it did not allege any overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy. Additionally, the court determined that the use of the A-O Company's spinning facilities did not meet the legal definition of larceny, as the law requires a physical taking or appropriation of tangible property, which was not established in this case.

The charge in count 4 of the indictment, that the $2,097.92 received by the Midland Company for spinning was stolen by defendants from the A-O Worsted Company, must be dismissed at the outset. The case was tried upon the theory that the spinning facilities of the A-O Company were surreptitiously used and 'appropriated'—not that the proceeds of a permitted use were stolen. However, if the proof was sufficient under either larceny court, the general verdict of guilty is good.

Conclusion

The court reversed the convictions and dismissed the indictments, concluding that the defendants did not commit the crimes as charged.

Conspiracy has neither been pleaded nor proved. Larceny, under section 1290, of the Penal Law, has not been proved. The judgment of conviction should be reversed, and the indictment dismissed.

Who won?

Defendants Alfred H. Ashworth and Harry Ashworth prevailed because the court found the indictment defective and ruled that the alleged actions did not constitute larceny under the law.

The court's final decision or holding in 1–2 sentences.

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