Clem v. State

42 Ind. 420
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1873
StatusPublished
Cited by102 cases

This text of 42 Ind. 420 (Clem 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
Clem v. State, 42 Ind. 420 (Ind. 1873).

Opinions

Downey, J.

This was an indictment for murder in the first degree against the appellant, and Silas Hartman, and William J. Abrams, found and returned by the grand jury in the Marion Criminal Court. It is stated that the grand jurors of the county of Marion and State of Indiana, impanelled, charged,and sworn to inquire of feloniesand misdemeanors committed within the county of Marion, in said State of Indiana, on their oath, do present, charge, and find, that Silas Hartman, Nancy E. Clem, and William J. Abrams, all late of said county and State, and all being then and there of sound mind, on the 12th day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, at said county of Marion and State of Indiana, did, with farce [423]*423and arms, unlawfully, feloniously, purposely, and with premeditated malice, make an assault upon one Jacob Young, then and there and in the public peace being, and did then and there, with force and arms, and with guns and pistols, and with leaden balls, shot, and slugs, then and there shot off and discharged by the said Silas Hartman, Nancy E. Clem, and William J. Abrams, from said guns and pistols, . at and against the said Jacob Young, him, the said Jacob Young, then and there, unlawfully, feloniously, purposely, and with premeditated malice, touch, strike, bruise, and wound, then and there and thereby giving the said Jacob Young, in and upon the head of him, the said Jacob Young, one mortal wound of the length of two inches and of the depth of six inches, of which said mortal wound the said Jacob Young then and there instantly died. And so the jurors aforesaid, on their oath aforesaid, do say, that the said Silas Hartman, Nancy E. Clem, and William J. Abrams, the said Jacob Young, then and there, in manner and form aforesaid, unlawfully, feloniously, and with premeditated malice, did kill and murder, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana.

A change of the venue was granted, on the application of the defendant, first from the judge of the criminal court, and then from the county of Marion to the county of Boone.

The defendant pleaded a former acquittal on another indictment charging her with the same crime. 'The State demurred to this plea, the demurrer was sustained, and the defendant excepted. She then pleaded not guilty, there was a trial by jury, and the jury failed to agree upon averdict. At a subsequent term ofthe court, there was a second trial by jury, which resulted in a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree, the jury returning with their verdict the following recommendation : “ We, the jury, who have this day made our

verdict in the case of The State v. Nancy E. Clem, recommend her to the clemency of the executive of the State in her behalf.”

[424]*424The defendant moved the court for a new trial, her motion was overruled, and final judgment, of imprisonment for life, was rendered on the verdict. Two errors are assigned in this court.

1. The sustaining of the demurrer to the plea of former acquittal; and,

2. The overruling of the motion for a new trial.

In the plea of former acquittal, the defendant alleges, that heretofore, on the 20th day of October, 1868, in the Marion Criminal Court, the grand jury, duly impanelled, sworn, and charged, etc., returned into open court an indictment, charging that Silas Hartman, Nancy E. Clem, the identical person now defendant in this action, and William J. Abrams, on the 12th day of September, 1868, at, etc., did, with force and arms, unlawfullj’-, feloniously, purposely, and with premeditated malice, make an assault upon one Nancy Jane Young, then and there and in the public peace being, and did, then and there, with force and arms, and with guns and pistols, and with leaden balls, shot, and slugs, then and there shot off and discharged by the said, etc., from the said guns and pistols aforesaid, at and against the said Nancy Jane Young, her the said Nancy Jane Young, then and there, unlawfully, feloniously, purposely, and with' premeditated malice, touch, strike, bruise and wound, then and there and thereby giving said Nancy Jane Young, in and upon the head of her, the said Nancy Jane Young, one mortal wound of the length of two inches, and of the depth of six inches, of which said mortal wound the said Nancy Jane Young, then and there instantly died. And so the jurors aforesaid on their oath aforesaid do say and find,- that the said Silas Hartman, Nancy E. Clem, and William J. Abrams, the said Nancy Jane Young, then and there in manner and form aforesaid, unlawfully, feloniously, purposely, and with premeditated malice, did kill and murder, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made - and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana. And she says that the said indictment was duly signed by the prose-[425]*425cutting attorney, etc., endorsed by the foreman of the grand jury as a true bill, filed in open court, and duly recorded. And afterward, on the 23d day of October, 1868, etc., the defendant having been arraigned upon said indictment and required to plead thereto, for plea thereto then and there said, that she was not guilty as charged therein, and afterward, on the 9th day of February, 1869, etc., the said case being called in said court for trial, the parties proceeded to impanel a jury to try the same, and on the.ioth day of February, 1869, etc., the State and the said Nancy E. Clem having elected twelve good and lawful men, resident householders of said county of Marion, the same were duly impanelled in and by said court, and sworn upon said jury according to law, and the said parties then and there and thenceforward proceeded in and by said court and jury to try said cause, and such proceedings were then and there had in said case, that afterward, on the 1st day of March, 1869, etc., the said jury returned into court the following verdict, to wit: “We, the’jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree as charged in the indictment, and sentence her to be imprisoned in the State’s prison during life.” And afterward, on the 29th day of March, 1869, etc., the said court rendered judgment upon said verdict against the said defendant, in substance and effect as follows: It is therefore considered by the court that said defendant, Nancy E. Clem, for the offence aforesaid, be confined in the State’s prison for life, and that she pay and satisfy the costs of said prosecution. And she avers and charges that by the verdict and judgment aforesaid thereon, she was fully acquitted of the charge of murder in the first degree as charged in said indictment, which will more fully appear, reference being had to the record of the proceedings and j udgment aforesaid, which she makes part of this her plea, etc. And the said defendant avers that the crime charged against the defendant in said indictment, and of which she was tried and acquitted as hereinbefore set forth, by the verdict of the said jury, was and is identical in all its parts, [426]*426incidents, and circumstances with the crime charged in the indictment first above in this plea specified, and to which this plea is now by her pleaded; and that the evidence, whereby alone the said plaintiff can or will attempt to support and prove the indictment against her in this case, is the same, and nowise different from that employed and produced against her upon the trial of the indictment aforesaid; in which trial she was acquitted as hereinbefore stated of the crime of murder in the first degree.

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Bluebook (online)
42 Ind. 420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clem-v-state-ind-1873.