Putinski v. State

Hammond, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Putinski, the appellant, took a portable television set, a suitcase, a pair of pants and two suits of clothes belonging to his roommates in a rooming house, without their knowledge or consent, and pawned them. He was convicted of larceny by Judge Allen, sitting without a jury, over his contention, which he presses here, that he did not intend to permanently deprive the owners of their property—that is to steal it—so an essential element of the crime of larceny is lacking. Putinski left a note for his roommates saying he was sorry, that he would send the money and the pawn tickets to them and that he was going to Washington.

He immediately pawned the television set and the clothing for about the maximum he could have gotten on them, the trial judge found. He used some of the money to pay the interest due the pawnbroker on pledges he had earlier made of his own property. He gave the pawnbroker a false address. He went to live ³ at a small hotel.

Putinski is a painter, who had been unemployed for some time. About ten days after the taking of the goods he got a job and five days later discovered that all the pawn tickets were missing from his room—those for his own property and those for the stolen property. He, in his words, “walked in brazen” to the pawnbroker to “put a stop” on the pawned articles so a finder of the pawn tickets could not redeem. The police had already “put a stop” on the stolen articles; the pawnbroker called them and Putinski was arrested.

He first told the officer he had “borrowed” the things he took but when the policeman, having drawn his admission that it was without the knowledge or consent of the owners, said: “that is, you just stole it,” Putinski replied: “I guess that is true.” Nevertheless, his defense was, and is, that he always had an intent to return the articles he took and therefore did not steal them. “Larceny has been defined as the ‘fraudulent taking and carrying away of a thing without claim of right, with the intention of converting it to a use other than that of the owner, without his consent.’ 2 Wharton, Crim. Law (11th ed.).” Ledvinka v. Home Insurance Co., 139 Md. 434, 440 . It is generally held that the intent must be to permanently deprive the owner of his property. Clark & Marshall, Crimes, Sec. 12.04 (6th Ed.); Perkins, Criminal Law, p. 224; 2 Wharton’s Criminal Law, Sec. 1096 (12th Ed.); 3 Underhill, Criminal Evidence, Sec. 591 (5th Ed.); 52 C. J. S. Larceny Sec. 1; 32 Am.

Jur. Larceny, Sec. 2; Hochheimer, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Sec. 370 (2d Ed.); Annotation 48 A.L.R. 2d 8 , 29; compare Ledvinka v. Home Insurance Co., supra. When the accused has taken property to pawn and raise money, the question arises whether his intent was to permanently deprive the owner of it—that is to steal it—or whether the intent was to raise money on it for a time and then return it, for if the thing is taken to be used only temporarily, there may be an absence of intent to deprive the owner of his ownership. The intent of the taker is a question of fact to be decided by the trier of fact.

The English cases and those in ⁴ this country have worked out tests of the intent in such circumstances. “If a man takes another’s goods with intent to pawn them, and does so, he is clearly guilty of larceny if he does not intend to redeem and return them. And he is guilty even if he does intend to redeem and return them, if he does not show ability to do so, or at least a fair and reasonable expectation of ability. If he shows such ability or expectation, it seems that he is not guilty.” Clark and Marshall, op. cit., Sec. 12.04, p. 733. Perkins, op. cit., page 226, says the law is this: “To take another’s chattel by trespass for the purpose of raising money by pledging it may constitute larceny even if done with an intent to redeem the chattel and restore it to the owner.

This is because such a transaction may involve great risk of permanent loss to the owner. By the pledge the trespasser has placed it beyond his power to return the chattel to the owner