State of West Virginia v. James Goodnight

Summary

The West Virginia Supreme Court affirmed James Goodnight's conviction of attempted grand larceny and his sentence of one year in the county jail and a $500 fine. It held that the larceny indictment was sufficient under Code, 62-9-10 even though it did not allege the specific place of the theft; that the trial court's finding of insufficient evidence on the church-property larceny created no double jeopardy problem because the events were not a "same transaction"; that planks, a battery, jumper cables and plastic seized from the defendants' truck were admissible because the Fairmont officer's investigation of the church-property larceny extended his arrest authority beyond the city limits under Code, 8-14-3; and that the sentence fell within the statutory range for attempted grand larceny under Code, 61-11-8.