Court Opinion

ID: 9703772
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:07:24.566751+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:51.603354
License: Public Domain

Concurring-Dissenting Opinion
Jackson, J.
I concur in that portion of the majority opinion reversing the conviction on Count I of the affidavit, and dissent to that portion thereof affirming the conviction on Count II of the affidavit.
The offenses charged were the result of only one activity on the part of the defendant or the occurrence of one event. The practice of filing multiple criminal prosecutions for one offense is as reprehensible as is the practice of some defense counsel in permitting their client to go to trial on a multiplicity of charges rather than requiring the State to elect on which charge it intends to prosecute.
*359Finally, in the case at bar it appears that the narrative account of the happenings as related to a representative of the insurance company is insufficient to constitute a violation of Ind. Anno. Stat. § 10-3037 (4). The statement here referred to .contains the following: “The two days following the robbery my wife, Peggy, called our agency the Shelby Insurance Agency, and the girl in the office said she would tell Tom Harrison that we had been robbed the Friday before and we were making claim against our insurance policy.” The statement in this case only expressed an intent, at some time not specified, to file a claim with the insurance company. It did not, as such, constitute the type of statement .contemplated by the statute. The statute requires an affirmative act to obtain credit, property or services through the use of a “knowingly false or misleading statement.”
The claim against the insurance company, if one there be, was not introduced in evidence, lacking that claim there can be no valid conviction under Count II of the affidavit and the conviction obtained below should be reversed and the cause remanded with instructions to grant appellant’s Motion for a New Trial.
Note. — Reported in 241 N. E. 2d 255.