People v. Troy

56 N.W. 102, 96 Mich. 530, 1893 Mich. LEXIS 811
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 26, 1893
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 56 N.W. 102 (People v. Troy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Troy, 56 N.W. 102, 96 Mich. 530, 1893 Mich. LEXIS 811 (Mich. 1893).

Opinion

Long, J.

Bespondent was informed against, and convicted, under How. Stat. § 9122«, which reads:

“Any person who shall assault another with intent- to do great bodily harm, less than the crime of murder, shall be punished by imprisonment in the State prison not more than ten years, or by fine not exceeding eight hundred dollars, or by both, in the discretion of the court.”

The case comes to this Court on exceptions before sentence.

It appeared on the trial that on the night of May 23, 1892, two young men, by the names of Flanders and Ottobein, were engaged in a street fight. One of the parties called for help, when a police officer ran to the place, and sought to arrest the two. Ottobein broke away from the officer, and, while the latter was engaged in securing Flanders, he was struck on the head by a stone thrown by a person whom the officer afterwards claimed to recognize as the respondent. Flanders was complained against for the offense of resisting an officer, and the respondent was complained against, and convicted, under the statute above quoted. Flanders’ trial came on first in the superior court of Grand Bapids, and he was found guilty by the jury. At the same term respondent was brought to trial, and seven of the jurors who sat in Flan-[532]*532tiers’ ease were permitted, under objection, to sit in the case against respondent.

It is claimed by counsel for respondent that the verdict should be set aside for the reasons:

1. That the act under which the conviction was had is unconstitutional and void.
3. That the court erred in permitting the jurors who found Flanders guilty to sit in the case against respondent.
3. That the court erred in its charge to the jury on the question of alibi, claimed as a defense in the case.

This statute was passed in 1883. Act No. 71, Laws of 1883. Questions relative to convictions thereunder' have been before this Court in People v. Sweeney, 55 Mich. 586; People v. Ross, 66 Id. 94; People v. Sebring, Id. 705; People v. Lennon, 71 Id. 298; Turner v. Circuit Judge, 88 Id. 359; People v. Ellsworth, 90 Id. 442; People v. Miller, 91 Id. 639.

In People v. Sweeney, the respondent was charged in one count with the crime of assault with intent to kill and murder, and, in the second count, with an assault with intent to do great bodily harm, less than the crime of murder. The claim was made in this Court that the count for the statutory offense of an assault with intent to do great bodily harm, less than the crime 'of murder, could not be joined with a count for the common-law offense of assault with intent to kill and murder. Mr. Justice Sherwood, writing for the Court, overruled this objection, and, in speaking of this statutory offense, said:

“It is unnecessary now to determine the extent of the injury required to bring a case within the statute under which the conviction in this case was had. It very clearly appears from the record that f great bodily harm, less than murder,’ was committed.”

The respondent was convicted of this statutory offense, but the case was reversed because of the erroneous admission of evidence by the trial court.

[533]*533In People v. Ross, Chief Justice Campbell wrote for reversal, upon the ground that the proofs offered showed no more than simple assault. The prisoner was-discharged.

In People v. Sebring, it appeared that, when the cause was called for trial, respondent’s counsel moved to quash the information upon the ground that the complaining witness was the respondent’s wife. This was thd only error relied upon, and Mr. Justice Sherwood said:

“ It would be a strange rule of law, indeed, either' common or statute, which would not allow a wife, when assaulted and beaten until her life is endangered by a cruel and malicious husband, to resort to the courts, and make her complaint, and secure his arrest.”

The conviction was affirmed.

In People v. Lennon, the respondent was charged in two counts, as in the case of People v. Sweeney, hut convicted upon the count for assault Avith intent to do great bodily harm. The defense Avas that the respondent Avas acting in self-defense. Mr. Justice Morse, AArriting for the Court, said- that the proofs did not justify a conviction for any greater offense than assault and battery. The prisoner was discharged.

In Turner v. Circuit Judge, it was held that the respondent could not be convicted of assault and battery under an information charging him with the statutory offense of “assault Avith intent to do great bodily harm, less than the crime of murder,” but not charging a battery, nor could the information be amended, after verdict and before judgment, so as to include the latter charge.

In People v. Ellsworth, it was held that one or more respondents might be informed against for an assault upon two persons with intent to do great bodily harm, less than the crime of murder, if the assault complained of was made by the same act, and that in Turner v. Circuit Judge it was not intended to hold that under such a [534]*534charge a person conld not be convicted of assault and battery, if such lesser offense were properly charged in the informations The conviction was sustained, Chief Justice Morse writing for the Court.

In People v. Miller, it was held that the intent to do great bodily harm, less than the crime of murder, under certain circumstances, might be inferred from the act itself, and that the facts appearing on the trial showed that the respondent intended to do great bodily harm. The conviction was affirmed. It was said by Chief Justice Morse in that case:

The assignments of error are mostly based on the main proposition that, under the evidence on the part of the people, there was no greater crime than assault and battery of which respondent could be convicted.”

It is contended by the Attorney General that each of the foregoing cases, of necessity, involved the constitutionality of the act in question; and that especially in the case of People v. Ellsworth, supra, was that question raised. It appeared in that case that the respondent's counsel moved to quash the information in the court below on the ground that the information charged no offense known to the laws of this State. The motion was denied. The principal point made in this Court was, however, that the information charged the offense to have been committed upon two persons, and that, under the statute, the word another ” meant one person, and no more. But the conviction was affirmed, and the constitutionality of the act necessarily passed upon. It is also urged by the Attorney General that in People v. Miller the attention of the Court was again called to the statute, and the charge of the court below as to what would constitute the offense, and that, necessarily, the Court passed upon its constitutionality.

Assault and assault and battery were offenses at the [535]*535common law, and had their well-understood meaning. Our statute has not attempted to define them, but to fix and determine the punishment to be inflicted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 N.W. 102, 96 Mich. 530, 1893 Mich. LEXIS 811, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-troy-mich-1893.