Sanders v. State

112 S.W. 68, 54 Tex. Crim. 101, 1908 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 344
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided June 24, 1908·No. No. 3749.·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

DAVIDSOH, Presiding Judge.

The indictment contains three counts. It is unnecessary to mention the third count, for it was not considered in the charge, and passes out of the case. The first count charges homicide by poison in that the deceased was induced to believe that the carbolic acid administered was only a medicine. The second count charged as follows, omitting former parts: “Did then and there unlawfully and with his malice aforethought, wickedly contriving and intending to unlawfully kill one Pearl Baxter with poison, did administer to and cause to be taken by the said Pearl Baxter into her stomach, a deadly quantity of a certain deadly poison called carbolic acid, he, the said A. J. Sanders, then and there knowing the same to be a deadly poison in quantity and kind as so administered by him and taken by the said Pearl Baxter; and the said Pearl Baxter did take and swallow down the same into her body; and by means of the taking of which deadly poison into the stomach and body of the said Pearl Baxter, she, the said Pearl Baxter, did, on or about the 20th day of August, A. D., 1906, die in the county and State aforesaid; and the grand-jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do say that the said A. J. Sanders, in the manner and form aforesaid, unlawfully and of his malice aforethought, did kill and murder the said Pearl Baxter, contrary to the law and against the peace and dignity of the State.” It is urged by appellant that this count of the indictment does not sufficiently charge a homicide by poison, because it neither alleges that the poison charged to have been administered by the *103 defendant was taken by the deceased without knowledge as to what it was, nor its deadly effect, and further, that it fails to charge that it was administered by force, by threats or by fraud on the part of the defendant, and therefore, the count is wholly insufficient to charge any offense against the law. We are of opinion that the criticisms are technically correct. Under our statutes the mere fact of administering poison from which a party dies is not necessarily homicide. All the facts contained in the count quoted could be true, and appellant not guilty of murder. However, wickedly or maliciously may have been the purposes or intent of the accused in administering the poison as charged, yet if the deceased took the poison voluntarily, knowing what the result might be, her death would not constitute culpable homicide. The means and manner by which appellant administered the poison is not charged. If he had induced deceased to take it under the impression on her part that the carbolic acid was a medicine, and death had resulted, the killing would be murder. If he had forced it down her throat, or had caused her to take it against her will, it still would be murder, or if by threats or by fraud, or by any sort of manner, he had induced her to take the poison, and she did not know the probable consequences of taking it, it would be murder. But if she knew at the time she took the acid of its deadly character, or she took it and did it for the purpose of committing suicide and ending her life, and the appellant in no way actually gave it to her, it would not be murder. The indictment, therefore, fails to allege sufficiently a want of knowledge on her part at the time she took it, or that appellant caused her in any manner either by force or threats or by fraud to swallow it. Therefore, as stated above, this count in the indictment as presented could be true and yet appellant not violate the law. Further, it does not negative the idea that she (deceased) voluntarily and freely took the acid herself. Article 648 of the Penal Code provides: “If any person shall, with intent to injure, cause another person to inhale or swallow any substance injurious to health, or any of the functions of the body, if such substance was administered with intent to kill, he shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than five )?ears.” Article 649 of the Penal Code is as follows: “If by reason of the commission of the offenses named in the two preceding articles, the death of a person be caused within one year, the offender shall be deemed guilty of murder and be punished accordingly.” Looking back to Article 647 of the Penal Code we find it provides: “If any person shall mingle or cause to be mingled any other noxious substance with any drink, food or medicine, with intent to kill or injure any other person, or shall wilfully poison or cause to be poisoned any spring, well, cistern or reservoir of water with such intent, he shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years.” An inspection of these articles make it manifest that in order for an accused to violate either there must be an intent to injure in causing another person to inhale or swallow injurious substances or to administer it *104 with intent to kill, or in mingling or causing to be mingled these poisonous substances with drink, food or medicine, or poisoning springs, wells, cisterns, or reservoirs of water, and it is further obvious that the administration or the use by the intended victim of the poisonous matters must be unknown to the party so taking or using, or the party administering the poisons or causing the injury must do it by some personal act to the party sought to be injured, and the statutes exclude the idea that the medicines are taken voluntarily by the person sought to be injured. It may be correctly stated, however, at this point that if the person in fact by his own hand gave or administered the medicine, even then he might be guilty, but these statutes exclude the idea, as we understand them, that the mere fact that a party seeking to injure another, gives to the other the poison with knowledge on the receiver’s part of its deadly character, and the receiving party swallows it or takes it designing to have injurious effect upon him or herself, then the party administering or giving would not be guilty, for in that state of case, if death resulted, it would be a suicide. This is especially fortified when we look to article 77 of the Penal Code, which thus reads: “If any one, by employing a child or other person, who cannot be punished, to commit an offense, or by any means such as laying' poison where it may be taken, and with intent that it shall be taken, or by preparing any other means by which a person may injure himself, and with intent that such person shall thereby be injured, or by any other indirect means, cause another to receive an injury to his person or property, the offender, by the use of such indirect means, becomes a principle.” This statute is entirely in harmony and correlates fully with the articles above quoted. An inspection of this article as well as article 647, 648 and 649, makes it clear and fully certain that the injury intended to the person against whom the acts of an accused are directed does not apply to cases of suicide. If the party accused of providing the means or administering the poison or other noxious substances, places it where his intended victim may secure it, and that victim does obtain and use it and is thereby killed, the victim being innocent of self-destruction, the accused in that event would be guilty. These statutes do not apply where the facts show the accused may have directly or indirectly furnished such means to a person where that person takes it voluntarily so as to become a self-destroyer or suicide. All these statutes are based upon the idea and theory that the victim of the accused is not cognizant of the purpose or intent of such accused in preparing the means for the destruction of the life of such inte

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Sanders v. State, 112 S.W. 68, 54 Tex. Crim. 101, 1908 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 344 (Tex. 1908).

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