Moody v. People

20 Ill. 315
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1858
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 20 Ill. 315 (Moody v. People) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moody v. People, 20 Ill. 315 (Ill. 1858).

Opinion

Walker, J.

This was an indictment for kidnapping, in the Recorder’s Court of Chicago, at the November term, 1857. 'The indictment contained two counts. The first count charges -that Mary Moody, William Bush, Michael Joy and William H. Reed, on the 13th day of October, 1857, at the city of Chicago, etc., “ unlawfully, fraudulently and wickedly, without having -established a claim, according to the laws of the United States, forcibly did steal, take and arrest one Christiana Davis,” etc., “ a minor child of one Davis, of said county, city and State,” and her, the said Christiana Davis, did carry, transport and convey out of the State of Illinois into another State, to wit, into the State of Indiana, without the consent of the said Christiana Davis, and against her will, and without the consent of the said Davis, the father of the said Christiana Davis.”

The second count alleges that Mary Moody, with the other defendants, on the same day and year, at the same place, “ unlawfully, without having established a claim, according to the laws of the United States, forcibly did take and arrest one Christiana Davis, a free white minor child, and her, the said Christiana Davis, forcibly did carry out of the State of Illinois into another country, to wit, the province of Canada, without her consent, and against her will.”

The defendant, Moody," filed her affidavit for a continuance, which is as follows :

“ Mary Moody, one of the defendants in the above indictment, being duly sworn, doth depose and say that she has a good and substantial defense on the merits of this cause ; that-Soper and-Soper, his wife, of London, in the District of Canada West, are material witnesses for this deponent on the trial of this cause, without whose testimony she cannot safely proceed to trial thereof; that she expects to prove by said Soper and wife (said witnesses) that this deponent is not guilty either of kidnapping, or aiding or assisting in the kidnapping, the said Christiana Davis, and by said indictment said to be kidnapped; that said Christiana Davis was aged about fourteen years in December, 1856 ; and the said Christiana Davis left the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and also the State of Illinois, and went through the State of Indiana and Michigan, to London aforesaid, of her own free will and accord, and that she was not taken or carried out of this State against her will, or without her consent, and that the said voluntary trip of said Christiana Davis is the same charged in said indictment, and supposed to constitute the crime of kidnapping; that she knows of no person by whom she can prove the same facts who are not indicted with her in this case, or the said Christiana Davis, who, on the examination before the committing court, denied the facts; that this indictment was found at this term of this court, since which time she has been unable to obtain the testimony of said witnesses, or their attendance in court; that the given names of said witnesses are unknown to deponent; that she expects to be able to obtain the testimony of said witnesses in this cause at the next term of this court. And this application is not made for delay, but that justice may be done.”

The court overruled the motion, and the defendants were tried seven days after the indictment was found, by the court and a jury, which trial resulted in a verdict of guilty. This defendant entered a motion for a new trial, which was overruled by the court, and judgment was rendered ,on the verdict, to reverse which this defendant prosecutes this writ of error.

The first question which we propose to consider, is, whether the affidavit was sufficient to entitle the defendant to a continuance. When we divest it of its form, and look alone to its substance, we see that the affiant nowhere states a single fact which would tend in the slightest degree to establish her innocence. It only states that, by the absent witnesses, she can prove that she is not guilty, and that the prosecuting witness left the State voluntarily. Whether the witnesses, of their own knowledge, can so state, or, from information, can state material circumstances, is not stated. It is believed that, in our practice, the affidavit has always specifically stated the particular fact or facts which can be proven, and in what way they are material, and that, failing to do so, an affidavit was never held to be sufficient. Anything short of that degree of certainty would leave it to the affiant to determine what constitutes a defense, and not to the court, as it certainly should. This affidavit was therefore insufficient.

It was likewise urged that the evidence against defendant Moody was insufficient to authorize the finding of the jury. After a careful examination of the evidence in the record, we are satisfied that it does show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she aided and abetted the other defendants in the abduction, and, by so aiding, she became equally guilty of crime with the others, who were the active parties in its perpetration, and we see no reason for disturbing the verdict on that account.

The correctness of the second and third instructions given for the People is questioned by the assignment of errors; the second of which is, that “ to constitute the forcible abduction or stealing of a person within the meaning of the statute, it is not necessary that virtual physical force or violence be used upon the person kidnapped. But it will be sufficient, if, to accomplish the removal, the mind of the person was operated upon by the defendants, by falsely exciting the fears, by threats, fraud or other unlawful or undue influence, amounting substantially to a coercion of the will, so that, if such means had not been resorted to or employed, it would have required force to effect the removal.” The statute defines kidnapping to be the forcible abduction or stealing away of a man, woman or child from his or her own country, and sending or taking him or her into another. While the letter of the statute requires the employment of force to complete this crime, it will undoubtedly be admitted by all that physical force and violence is not necessary to its completion. Such a literal construction would render this statutory provision entirely useless. The crime is more frequently committed by threats and menaces than by the employment of actual physical force and violence. If the crime may be committed without actual violence, by menaces, it would seem that any threats, fraud, or appeal to the fears of the individual, which subjects the will of the person abducted, and places such person as fully under the control of the other, as if actual force were employed, would make the offense as complete as by the use of force and violence. And this is what this instruction asserts, and nothing more. Wo are fortified in this construction by the construction which has been given to the British statute defining the crime of rape. That statute requires, to make the crime complete, that the act shall be forcible, and against the will of the woman violated; and yet it has been held that when the woman was stupefied to insensibility by the use of drugs, and the act then committed, that it was a rape. Rex v. Camplin, 1 Car. & K. 746. Or when the offense was committed where the woman yielded her consent by fear of death or duress. 1 Hawk. P. 0., cap. 41. Or where a physician, by falsely pretending that the act done was necessary in a case of medical treatment. 1 Bishop’s Crim. Law, 344; Wheat. Crim. Law, 442. We are not able to perceive any reason for distinguishing in the construction of these two statutes.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Towns
2020 IL App (1st) 171145 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2020)
United States v. Iveth Najera-Mendoza
683 F.3d 627 (Fifth Circuit, 2012)
People v. Nicholls
374 N.E.2d 194 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1978)
State v. Murphy
184 S.E.2d 845 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1971)
State v. Gough
126 S.E.2d 118 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1962)
State v. Walker
362 P.2d 548 (Montana Supreme Court, 1961)
Mayer v. People
180 P.2d 1017 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1947)
State v. Cochran
49 S.W. 558 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1899)
Corbin v. People
52 Ill. App. 355 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1893)
Smith v. State
31 N.E. 807 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1892)
Kennedy v. People
13 N.E. 213 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1887)
Smith v. State
23 N.W. 879 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1885)
United States v. Ancarola
1 F. 676 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York, 1880)
Steele v. People
45 Ill. 152 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1867)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
20 Ill. 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moody-v-people-ill-1858.