State v. Akin

62 N.W. 667, 94 Iowa 50
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 2, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 62 N.W. 667 (State v. Akin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Akin, 62 N.W. 667, 94 Iowa 50 (iowa 1895).

Opinion

Given, O. J.

[51]*511 [50]*50I. Appellant moves to strike appellee’s “second additional abstract;” also' his . brief and argument, because not served and filed in time. Said second additional abstract shows as a part of the [51]*51record not appearing in appellant’s abstract the following: “That after the evidence was closed the defendant’® attorney-ini open court said: ‘There is one thing. we omitted, if the court please. I suppose it will be conceded by you (addressing attorney for the state) that defendant wais arrested by you the next morning ■after the assault and battery on Mr. Scales, and fined ten dollars, Mr. Hayes being a justice of the peace in this town- and county.’ The state conceded that this was so.” Appellant filed his “amendment to. abstract,” in which he denies that the words, “addressing attorney for the state,” and the words, “The state conceded that this was so,” appear in the record, and moves to strike the same. The court did not submit the question of the appellant’s guilt of an assault or assault and battery, but instructed the jury that the fact mentioned in their hearing that the defendant had been arrested and fined for an assault and battery should not be considered by them; that such ■conviction released the defendant from further prosecution for assault or assauit and battery, but-was no defense against the charge concerning which they were instructed. Appellee’s first abstract shows that prior to the commencement of the trial the ■defendant in open court filed a special plea to said indictment, alleging that the defendant had been arrested, tried, and fined for assault and battery for the same act upon which the charge in the indictment is based. It is evident that the case was tried upon the theory, and without question, that appellant had been arrested and fined for assault and battery for the samé act charged in the indictment, .and that he could not be convicted thereon in this prosecution: ■ The words appearing in appellee’s second additional abstract that are denied by appellant will bé [52]*52stricken orut, but, in view of the entire record, the motion to strike appellee’s abstract and argument is overruled.

2 II. The court, after instructing as to the crime charged, instructed the jury that the offense charged includes “a lower or lesser degree of crime called ‘assault with intent to inflict great bodily injury,’ ” and proceeded to inform the jury as to that crime. Appellant contends that the intent to inflict a great bodily injury is an entirely different intent from that charged, and is not included in the charge, and that therefore the instruction is erroneous. Section 8857 of the Code, under which this indictment is found, is as follows: “If any person, with intent to maim or disfigure, cut or maim the tongue; cut out or destroy an eye; cut, slit, or tear off-an ear; cut, bite, slit, or mutilate the nose or lip; cut off or disable a limb or any member of another person, he shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than five years,* and fine not exceeding one thousand dollars nor less than one hundred dollars.” It will be observed that to constitute the crime of maiming or disfiguring as here defined the accused must have done to another person some one of the acts specified, with intent to maim or-disfigure. The charge is that the defendant committed an assault and battery upon the person of J. H. Scales,, and did “break and- mutilate the nose, mouth, and lips of the said J. H. Scales, and the said Paul C. Akin did then and there make the said assault in and upon the person of the said J. H. Scales with the intent him, the said J. H. Scales, willfully, wickedly, unlawfully, and feloniously to maim and disfigure.” This is not a charge of an assault with intent to maim, as defined in section 3874, but a charge of actually maiming and' disfiguring, as defined in said section 3857. Our Code contains the following provisions:

[53]*53“Sec. 4465. Upon am indictment for am offense consisting of different degrees, the jury may find the defendant not guilty of the degree charged in the indictment, and guilty of any degree inferior thereto, or of an attempt to commit the offense, if punishable by indictment.
“Sec. 4466. In all other cases the defendant may be found guilty of amy offense the commission of which is necessarily included in that with which he is charged in the indictment.”

3 The question is whether the crime of assault with intent to inflict great bodily injury is a degree inferior to the crime charged, or, in other words, whether it is necessarily included in the charge. Appellant contends that the two offenses are entirely distinct, and urges1, by way of illustration, that a party might make an assault , upon another to disfigure Mm, as by tattooing Mdeous characters upon his face or hands, but without intending to inflict any great bodily injury. In determining the question under consideration we must not accept the common-law definition of maiming or disfiguring, but that of our own statute. We tMnk it cannot be said that a person intending to inflict any of the injuries! named in section 3857 can. be said not to intend to inflict a great bodily injury. ■ Surely it would be a great' bodily injury to cut or maim (disable) the tongue, to cut out or destroy an eye, or to inflict upon another any of the injuries named in said section. The charge against appellant is that he did break and' mutilate the nose, the mouth, And lips off Scales, with intent to máim and disfigure Mm. Surely one who unlawfully breaks, and mutilates the nose, the mouth, and lips of another inflicts a great bódily;injuiy. If the injury be with intent to maim and disfigure, it comes under said section 3857; but, if that ifitent be lacking, and the lesser intent to inflict a great1 [54]*54bodily injury exists, it comes under section 3875. As the crime of maiming or disfiguring is one committed by the perpetuation of injuries which in their nature are within the definitions of great bodily injuries, it follows that such a charge necessarily includes the offense of an assault with intent to inflict a great bodily injury. While this court has never ruled upon this precise question, our view is in harmony with all the decisions based upon said sections 4465 and 4466. See State v. Parker, 66 Iowa, 586, State v. Schele, 52 Iowa, 608. Appellant cites us to Kilkelly v. State, 43 Wis., 604, wherein it is said: “But we are aware of no rule of criminal procedure which sanctions a conviction for a felonious intent on an indictment or information which does not charge such intent, but charges another intent of an entirely different character.” It does not appear that the conclusions expressed in that case were based upon statutes similar to ours. Our conclusion rests upon the fact that the intention to inflict a great bodily injury is necessarily included in the intent that must be charged to constitute the crime of maiming or disfiguring under our statute.

4 III. Appellant contends that the court erred in not submitting the question of his guilt or innocence of the crime of assault and battery or of simple assault. Taking the record as it stands before us on appellant’s amendment to appellee’s second additional abstract, it appears that, after the evidence was closed, the defendant’s attorney, in open court, said: “There is one thing we omitted, if the court please.

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

Related

State v. Chatterson
259 N.W.2d 766 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1977)
State v. Marshall
220 N.W. 106 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1928)
State v. Shaver
197 Iowa 1028 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1923)
State v. Foster
220 S.W. 958 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1920)
State v. Hoot
94 N.W. 564 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1903)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
62 N.W. 667, 94 Iowa 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-akin-iowa-1895.