Title: Latham v. State
Citation: 320 So. 2d 760
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: September 18, 1975

320 So. 2d 760 (1975)
In re Ruby Lee LATHAM
v.
STATE of Alabama (two cases).
Ex parte Ruby Lee Latham.
Ex parte STATE of Alabama ex rel. ATTORNEY GENERAL.
SC 1228, SC 1236.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
September 18, 1975.
Rehearings Denied October 2, 1975.
*761 William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and James S. Ward, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
James M. Fullan, Jr., Birmingham, in opposition to the State's petition for certiorari and for the defendant, in support of her petition for certiorari.
MADDOX, Justice.
Both the State and the defendant sought review, by certiorari, of the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals, 56 Ala.App. 234, 320 So. 2d 747. We granted both petitions. The State contends that the court erred in deciding that it did not prove larceny. The defendant, on the other hand, contends that the court's decision conflicts with O'Brien v. State, 238 Ala. 189, 191 So. 391 (1939), in that Mrs. Latham was charged with obtaining $489.90 by false pretenses and the proof showed that the money obtained by the defendant was a state warrant. We reject not only the argument by the State but also that of the defendant and affirm the Court of Criminal Appeals.
As to the State's contention that the charge of larceny was proved by showing that the defendant got the money by a state warrant, we affirm without further opinion.
As to defendant's contention that the charge of obtaining $489.90 by false pretenses was not proved by showing that the defendant got the money from negotiating a state warrant, we also affirm.
The Court of Criminal Appeals followed Simmons v. State, 242 Ala. 105, 4 So. 2d 905 (1941), and held that there was no variance between the allegations and proof on the false pretense charge. We agree. In Simmons, this Court stated:
"The opinion of the Court of Appeals discloses that defendant (petitioner here), obtained from the bank, by means of false pretenses, a deposit slip for $500 on October 3rd and checked out the said $500 the next day.
The defendant here, as did the defendant in Simmons, lays stress upon O'Brien v. State, 238 Ala. 189, 191 So. 391 (1939). While O'Brien has not been overturned, it has been materially weakened as an authoritative case. As a matter of fact, Chief Justice Gardner, in Simmons, notes that he and Mr. Justice Thomas had acquiesced in the O'Brien case because they thought the matter had been laid to rest by previous decisions. It is apparent from a consideration of what was said in Simmons, that at least five members of this Court, as then constituted, thought O'Brien was not "in line with the weight of authority" and was not "in accord with plain common sense." *763 Even though this case involves a warrant and not a check, as was the case in O'Brien, we think that would be a distinction without a difference. Consequently, we refuse to follow O'Brien. The better rule is obviously stated in Simmons. As was said in Simmons, it would be carrying technicality to a most regrettable extreme to hold that the proof of the mere instrumentality of obtaining the money constitutes a variance with the charge of obtaining the money itself, when the same evidence discloses the fact that the money was so obtained.
Affirmed.
HEFLIN, C.J., and MERRILL, BLOODWORTH, FAULKNER, JONES and SHORES, JJ., concur.
ALMON and EMBRY, JJ., not sitting.