Booher v. State

54 L.R.A. 391, 60 N.E. 156, 156 Ind. 435, 1901 Ind. LEXIS 67
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedApril 16, 1901
DocketNo. 19,531
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 54 L.R.A. 391 (Booher v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Booher v. State, 54 L.R.A. 391, 60 N.E. 156, 156 Ind. 435, 1901 Ind. LEXIS 67 (Ind. 1901).

Opinion

Jordan, J.

The information upon which appellant was tried and convicted contains three counts. By the first and second appellant is charged, together with two other parties, Stanton Galbreath and Emory Bennett, with having committed an assault and battery upon William Rafter, with the felonious intent to commit murder in the first degree. ■ The third count charges him and four other persons, namely, Galbreath, Bennett j Wagoner, and Dudley, with unlawfully, knowiiigly, and .feloniously conspiring, uniting, and confederating together and agreeing with each other for the object and purpose and with the unlawful and felonious' intent unlawfully, feloniously, wilfully, purposely, and with ■ premeditated malice, to' kill and murder said Rafter, etc. The first and second counts of the information are based on §1982 Burns 1894, §1909 ITorner 1897, which reads, as folloivs: “Whoever perpetrates an assault or an assault and battery upon any human being, with intent to commit, a felony, shall, upon conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the state-prison not more than fourteen years nor less than two-years, and be fined not exceeding $2,000 dollars.” -The third count is based on §2260 Burns 1894, §2139 Horner [436]*4361897, which, provides as follows: “Any person or persons who shall unite or combine with any other person or persons for the purpose Of .committing a felony; or any person or persons who shall knowingly unite with, any. other person or persons, or body or association or combination of persons, whose object is the commission of a felony or felonies, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not more than $5,000, nor léss’than $25, and imprisoned in the state prison not more .tliap fourteen years nor less than two years.”

Upon appellant’s motion he was tried separately and the case against him was submitted to a jury for trial upon the several counts contained in the information and a verdict was returned finding appellant’guilty of the conspiracy as charged in the tliird 'count of the information, and over his motion for a new trialhe was sentenced by the court upon the verdict, of the jury to be imprisoned in the state’s prison for,an indeterminate,period of not less than two years nor more than fourteen years. From this.judgment he appeals, and. under his assignment; of .errors his counsel contend that the- trial court .erred in giving certain instructions to. the'jury and that .the. verdict is not sustained by th.e evidence. . The follpwing.may- be said to be an epitome of the evidence: On the night of March 1.0, 1900, appellant, John ■ Booher, -Stanton.Galbreath, Emory Bennett, Ray Wagoner, Lorenzo Dudley, and William Rafter, the prosecuting wit-, ness, .togeth'er path others, were in Hammer’s, saloon, in the town of Rierce.ton, Kosciusko county, Indiana. There is no evidence to show that ,the meeting of these parties was arranged by, any of them, but it appears that they came together casually at the, saloon in,question. . Rafter, it seems, had been at Warsa,w during the day, and had been drinking prior, to .his coming to Ilammer’s saloon., A short time after h.e came into the,saloon.a controversy seems to have arisen between him and Ray Wagoner in regard to a former difficulty or.fight which occurred.between Rafter and another .party.' Rafter claimed that he was drunk at the time. [437]*437that he had the fight with the party mentioned and that' for that reason his adversary had succeeded in getting 'the best of him. Wagoner proffered to het him money that what he asserted was not true. The 'controversy between these parties became so heatéd that the bartender directed Rafter fo leave the saloon. He seems to have complied with this direction and went out of the' saloon by- :the 'front door 'but went around and stood at a side door which led into 'the saloon. Wagoner upon learning that Rafter was standing at the side door went to this doór and accused the latter of eavesdropping,' and' some further controversy was indulged in between the two parties in respect to'thé matter which previously had occasioned the quarrel between them in the saloon. After this last controversy Rafter left and 'went to where his horse was tied, a block or more distant from''the saloon. He mounted his horse and apparently started in the direction of his home, but after riding around town fot a short time he went to a livery stable, where he "procured-a piece of cloth and wrapped or tied it around a stone, and then went to a pool-room adjoining to' Hammer’s' saloon. Appellant, Galbreath, and Wagoner and'other persdiis, as'it appears, were in'the pool-room: when Rafter entered' and they all remained there while Rafter played two games of pool. No words appear to have passed between Rafter and the other parties and no demonstration' of any kind took place. Rafter and the keeper of the pool-room, during the time the former was playing, had some words in regard to the páyment for the use of the pool-táble. It being 'then time for the pool-room to close, all of the parties went out on the street, Rafter and Wagoner' going down the middle of the street, and the other persons who domposed the crowd in the pool-room seem to have followed ‘along the' sidewalk after. Rafter and Wagoner. In regard to the question as to whether Wagoner followed after Rafter down the street, or walked by his side, the evidence is conflicting. Rafter, after arriving at the place where his horse was hitched to a rack, [438]*438jumped down from the sidewalk into a gutter. Wagoner then said to Rafter: “You get on your horse quick, and get out of town”. Upon the trial Rafter testified that after Wagoner had directed him to get on his horse and leave town as above stated, that Wagoner struck at h.im, and that he in return knocked Wagoner down with the stone which he had tied in the rag, as heretofore mentioned.. Wagoner testified, upon the other hand, that Rafter struck the first blow and knocked him down, and that he struck or stabbed Rafter in self-defense. After Wagoner had been knocked .down by Rafter, the latter states that he heard him say to the persons who were following him: “Come on, we’ll catch him and kill him”: Thereupon.Rafter started and ran, followed by Wagoner and several other persons, and while he was running Wagoner stabbed him several times in the back with, a knife, and while running he was knocked down by some one whose name the evidence does not disclose. ■ After Rafter was knocked down, the evidence shows that appel- • lant got on top of him and that Rafter threw him off and got up. When Rafter rose up he states, that he saw Galbreath standing over him or near him with a club drawn. The ■ wounds which Rafter received at the hands of Wagoner were severe but not dangerous. There is also evidence, to show that after the first quarrel in,the saloon between Rafter and Wagoner appellant said to the latter: “Why didnT you hit him? I would have stood by you if you had;”- There is evidence which apparently shows that Wagoner and Rafter were both willing to have trouble with each other, and that peither was trying-to avoid it. ; There is no evidence showing any enmity or ill feeling between Rafter and any of the parties prior to the meeting at Hammer’s saloon. . Evidence was introduced in behalf of appellant which .discloses that he had been freely drinking intoxicating, liquors prior to .and after the time that Rafter came into the saloon on the night in question, gome witnesses testified thgt he was very drunk on the occasion, and that they saw him previous to the [439]*439time that Rafter came into the saloon and that he was so drunk that he was leaning'over with liis head resting upon a table in Hammer’s saloon.

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Bluebook (online)
54 L.R.A. 391, 60 N.E. 156, 156 Ind. 435, 1901 Ind. LEXIS 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/booher-v-state-ind-1901.