State of Arizona v. Romero

148 P.2d 357, 61 Ariz. 249, 1944 Ariz. LEXIS 116
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedApril 19, 1944
DocketCriminal No. 940.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 148 P.2d 357 (State of Arizona v. Romero) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Arizona v. Romero, 148 P.2d 357, 61 Ariz. 249, 1944 Ariz. LEXIS 116 (Ark. 1944).

Opinion

STANFORD, J.

Defendant appellant was charged in the Superior Court of Maricopa County at Phoenix, Arizona, with the crime of rohhery in the first count and for aggravated assault in the second count, and although counsel for the defense had made a motion before the Superior Court to dismiss the first count, the County Attorney withdrew count I, and the case comes before this court on count II of an information which reads as follows:

“For a further and separate cause of action, being a different offense from, but connected in its commission with the charge set forth in Count I hereof, the said Manuel Lopez Romero is accused by the County Attorney of Maricopa County, Arizona, by this information of the crime of aggravated assault, a felony, committed as follows:
“The said Manuel Lopez Romero on or about the 21st day of September, 1942, at and in the County of Maricopa, Arizona, did then and there, with a premeditated design, make an unlawful assault upon Thomas Latham and Eugene Holcomb, by the use of means calculated to produce great bodily injury, to-wit; by striking, beating and kicking the said Thomas Latham and Eugene Holcomb, as aforesaid upon the head, body and person of them, the said Thomas Latham and Eugene Holcomb; . . .

The evidence shows that Thomas Latham and Eugene Holcomb, who were cousins, and who had *251 been at a skating rink at Riverside Park south of the City of Phoenix, were, between ten and eleven o’clock in the night, returning to Phoenix when they met a group of Spanish-American boys. There were about six in number of the Mexicans. One of the Mexican boys asked Latham for a match. Following that request a fight ensued, the first strike having been made by one of the group who struck Holcomb and the defendant then struck Latham. A struggle ensued lasting five or six minutes. One of the witnesses in the case testified that when Latham was upon the ground he saw the appellant herein kick him with his feet. It was also testified that the group of Mexicans aided in churning Latham on the cement, one having him by the hair of his head and others by the feet.

Our statute defines aggravated assault as follows:

“43-603. Aggravated assault and battery defined— Punishment. — An assault or. battery committed under any of the following circumstances, is aggravated: When the person committing the offense goes into a private home and is there guilty of assault or battery ; when committed by a person of robust health o'r strength upon one who is decrepit; when committed by an adult male upon the person of a female or child, or by an adult female upon the person of a child; when the instrument or means used is such as to inflict disgrace upon the person assaulted, as an assault or battery with a whip or cowhide; when a serious bodily injury is inflicted upon the person assaulted; when committed with a premeditated design and by the use of means calculated to inflict great bodily injury.”

The only part of said paragraph that concerns us in this case is the last part where it reads: “when committed with a premeditated design and by the use of means calculated to inflict great bodily injury.”

Appellant assigns as error, among other things: (1) That the said count IT did not state a crime un *252 der our statute above quoted because it did not set out the degree of force used so that it could be said as a matter of law that the means used were calculated to inflict great bodily injury. (2) That two distinct and separate offenses were charged in one count in violation of Section 44-725 Arizona Code 1939. (3) That the evidence wholly failed to establish any serious injury to the complaining witness, or that the defendant committed any act against the complaining witness which constituted an aggravated assault.

The defendant in this case testified on cross-examination in part as follows:

“Q. You were in the fight all of the time it was going on, weren’t you? A. Yes, I was in the fight. I don’t know that we — ■
“Q. (Interrupting) Yon didn’t hit anybody else except the two American boys? A. I just hit one.
“Q. Which one? This one? (pointing to Latham) A. Yes.
“Q. This is the one you worked on? A. Yes.
‘‘Q. After you left there where did you go? A. Dance.
“Q. How did you get down there? A. Oh, ride a truck down there.
“Q. There wasn’t a dance that night, was there? A. No, sir.
“Q. Then where did you go? A. Went to the river.
“Q. Why did you go to the river? A. Well, just went down there because we wanted to, that’s all.
“Q. Beg pardon? A. Just wanted to go there.
“Q. Just wanted to go there at midnight? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. What did yon do when you went down there? A. Stand there.
“Q. How long did you stay there? A. Around four. ...”

On direct examination of the defendant we quote this evidence:

*253 “Q. Altogether, how many times did yon hit him? A. Oh, about six times.”
Another witness in the case testified that they went to the river because they were afraid of the cops.
Eafael Soqui, a witness for the State, testified as follows:
“Q. You say you started to fight with them? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. How many of you; all of you? A. Just four of us.
“Q. Just four of you? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Then what happened after you started fighting; how did you fight? A. Well, slugging and kicking and all of that.
“Q. Slugging and kicking and all of that? A. Yes, sir. . . .
“Q. All right, after you hit them, then what did you boys do? A. Three of them kept on fighting them and we just crossed the street and watched them fight. ■ : ,
“Q. You say you crossed the street? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. In this hitting of these boys did Eomero take part in that? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Was he in that? A. Yes, sir.”

The prosecuting witness, Thomas Latham, testified:

“Q. And after you went down just what happened to you? Were you struck again? A. Well, yes sir. One of them got me by the hair of the head and two of them had my legs and just 'churned me up and down on the concrete.
■ “Q. I understood you to say that one got you by the hair of the head and two on your legs and churned you up and down on the concrete? A. Yes.
“Q. By ‘churning’, you mean pounding up and down the concrete? A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
148 P.2d 357, 61 Ariz. 249, 1944 Ariz. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-arizona-v-romero-ariz-1944.