This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Ellis (D) was tried and convicted of the larceny of a domestic animal. Owens, who claimed to own the calf notice it was missing. Three days later his son noticed that the calf fitting the description was secreted in a shed with five other calves on an adjoining neighbor’s property. The Sheriff was notified, and when the calf was returned to Owens’ field, a mother cow came running across and immediately licked the calf and without hesitation allowed it to nurse. The uncontroverted expert testimony of lifelong cattlemen was that this test and its result was the accepted test for determining maternal lineage. D took the stand and claimed to have purchased the calf and had a bill of sale. D was convicted and appealed.

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