State v. Briggs

87 N.W. 935, 84 Minn. 357, 1901 Minn. LEXIS 934
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 15, 1901
DocketNos. 12,731, 12,732—(18,19)
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 87 N.W. 935 (State v. Briggs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Briggs, 87 N.W. 935, 84 Minn. 357, 1901 Minn. LEXIS 934 (Mich. 1901).

Opinion

START, C. J.

The defendant was found guilty in each of these cases, in the district court for the county of Hennepin, upon indictments charging him with keeping a gambling device. Judgment was entered upon the verdict in each case, imposing upon him the maximum punishment, — a fine of $200 and imprisonment in the work house for the term of six months; the sentences to be cumulative. A motion was made and denied in each case for a new trial, and the defendant appealed from the judgments. The questions presented for consideration are substantially the same in each case, except as hereinafter stated. To avoid confusion, the first case tried is here designated by its record number in this court, 12,731, and the other case by its number, 12,732. The assignments of error in this last case will be first considered.

1. The first point urged is that the indictment does not charge the defendant with having committed a public offense. The in-, dictment is this:

, “Fred Briggs is accused by the grand jury of the county of Hennepiq, in the state of Minnesota, by this indictment, of the crime of keeping a gambling device, committed as follows: The said Fred Briggs on the 30th day of March, A. D. 1901, at the [359]*359city of Minneapolis, in said Hennepin county, then and there being, did wilfully, unlawfully, wrongfully, and knowingly, incite, move, procure, aid, abet, counsel, hire, command, and induce another, to wit, Fred Erickson, to commit the crime of keeping a gambling device, as hereinafter stated and set forth; and the said Fred Erickson, being then and there incited, moved, procured, aided, abetted, counseled, hired, commanded, and induced by the said Fred Briggs, and by reason of and because so incited, moved, procured, aided, abetted, counseled, hired, commanded, and induced by the said Fred Briggs, did on the said’ 30th day of March, 1901, at said city of Minneapolis, county and state aforesaid, then and there being, wilfully, unlawful!}', wrongfully, and knowingly keep a certain gambling device designed to be used in gambling, commonly known and designated as a ‘nickel in the slot machine,’ a more particular description of said device being to the grand jury unknown, with intent and for the purpose of inducing and allowing persons to gamble therewith in that certain building known, designated and described as number 409 Central avenue, in said city, county, and state; said building being then and there occupied by and under the control of the said Fred Erickson, and said device being then and there set up and used for the purpose of gambling, — contrary to the statute in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state of Minnesota.”

This indictment is based upon G-. S. 1894, § 6589, which reads thus:

“Whoever deals cards at the game called ‘Faro,’ ‘Pharo,’ or ‘Forty-Eight,’ whether the same is dealt with fifty-two or any other number of cards, and whoever keeps any gambling device whatever, designed to be used in gambling, shall be punished by fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or both.”

It is the contention of the defendant that the indictment does not directly charge him with keeping a gambling device, but simply accuses him of the offense in its-caption. If the indictment had charged that the defendant did wrongfully and unlawfully keep a gambling device by procuring and inducing another to do so, alleging the facts, it would unquestionably have charged a public offense, even within the technical rules invoked by the defendant. Now, in legal effect, this is just what the indictment does charge, for the distinction between accessories before the [360]*360fact and principals is abolished by G. S. 1894, § 6310, which is in these words:

“A person concerned in the commission of a crime, whether he directly commits the act constituting the offense, or aids and abets in its commission, and whether present or absent, and a person who directly or indirectly counsels, commands, induces, or procures another to commit a crime, is a principal and shall be indicted and punished as such.”

Where a party does not personally commit a crime, but procures it to be committed by another, the indictment may charge him directly with the commission of the offense, as if he personally committed it, or it may directly charge him as a principal by stating the facts which at common law would make him an accessory before the fact. In either case he is, by virtue of the statute, charged as a principal. State v. Beebe, 17 Minn. 218 (241). The pleader in drafting this indictment adopted the fairer and more truthful course, and directly charged the defendant with doing the acts which the law declares made him a principal, for he is directly charged with inducing and procuring another to commit the crime. The indictment charged the defendant with the commission of a public offense.

2. The further objection is urged to the indictment that, if it charges any public offense, it charges two distinct crimes, — one for keeping a gambling device designed to be used in gambling, which is forbidden by G. S. 1894, § 6589, and the other for suffering a gambling device to be set up or used for the purpose of gambling upon premises of which he had control, which is prohibited by section 6591. The indictment negatives the fact, necessarily assumed by this objection, that the defendant had any control of the place whére the gambling device was used. It states only one offense; that is, keeping a gambling device. But, were it otherwise, the defendant waived the objection by not demurring to the indictment. G. S. 1894, §§ 7293-7301; State v. Henn, 39 Minn. 464, 40 N. W. 564.

3. The last objection made to the indictment is that the alleged gambling device is not sufficiently described, because it does not appear that it is a device similar to cards or gambling tables. [361]*361The statute upon which the indictment is predicated declares that “whoever keeps any [not any other] gambling device whatever, designed to be used in gambling” commits a crime. The statute does not attempt to enumerate all of the devices which may be designed for use in gambling. It would be unwise, if not impossible, to do so; for the ingenuity of sharpers who are too lazy or too depraved to work at any useful or decent occupation is producing, faster than the legislature can anticipate and enumerate them, new schemes and devices to be used for gambling and ■entrapping the poor fools who believe that they can get something for nothing by beating a scoundrel at his own game. Hence the legislature has by G. S. 1894, § 6589, prohibited the keeping of any and all gambling devices of every kind designed to be used in gambling, whether they are similar to cards or gaming tables or not.

The indictment charges that the defendant did induce another to keep such a device (naming it), designed to be used for such purpose; and, if the state on the trial of the defendant established this allegation, it would be a reproach to the administration of justice to discharge him because the grand jury were unable particularly to describe the device and how it was operated. The indictment sufficiently described the alleged gambling device. See State v. Gray, 29 Minn. 142, 12 N. W. 455; State v. Wilson, 72 Minn. 522, 75 N. W. 715; and State v. Smith, 82 Minn. 342, 85 N. W. 12.

4.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
87 N.W. 935, 84 Minn. 357, 1901 Minn. LEXIS 934, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-briggs-minn-1901.