State v. Brown

7 Or. 186
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1879
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 7 Or. 186 (State v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Brown, 7 Or. 186 (Or. 1879).

Opinion

By the Court,

Kelly, C. J.:

The facts of this case, as they appear in the bill of exceptions, are substantially as follows: On the twenty-third day of August, 1878, in the city of Portland, the defendant Brown, in company with the co-defendants, Johnson and Swoards, entered the pawnshop of Walter O’Shea, locked the door behind them, knocked O’Shea senseless, and took from his safe, near where O’Shea was assaulted, the articles named in the indictment. These were put into a valise, and with the property in their possession the defendants broke out the back windows of the pawnshop and made their escape through an adjoining store into the street. They had been observed before leaving the shop and were pursued by Sprague, a constable, who had been notified of the robbery. After running four blocks of two hundred feet each, and across two streets of sixty feet each, pursued by the constable, they were about to be overtaken. When Sprague was within twenty-five feet of them, Brown was heard to say: “Don’t let us run; let us make a stand.” The defendants then all stopped, turned around and drew their revolvers. Brown fired at Sprague. The pistol ball missed'him, struck the side of a tree, glanced off, and killed the boy Louis Joseph. After firing this shot Brown made several motions as though he was going to shoot Sprague, who was dodging from side to side of the tree behind which he was standing endeavoring to keep out of the range of Brown’s pistol. After shooting the boy Joseph, the defendants ran across the street where a delivery wagon and horse were standing, got into the wagon with the property taken from O’Shea and drove off, Brown driving the horse and having a pistol on the seat beside him. The defendants did not know that Sprague was a constable.

The defendants were afterwards jointly indicted on the [196]*196twenty-second day of October, 1878, for the crime of murder. The crime is charged in the indictment as follows:

“Archie Brown, James Johnson and Jos. Swoards are accused by the grand jury of the county of Multnomah, by ' this indictment, of the crime of murder, committed as follows: The said Archie Brown, James Johnson and Jos. Swoards, on the twenty-third day of August, A. D. 1878, in the county of Multnomah and state of Oregon, were then and there unlawfully and feloniously engaged in the commission of the crime of robbery, by then and there feloniously taking, stealing, and carrying away twenty-two gold watches of the value of eleven hundred dollars; fourteen silver watches of the value of one hundred and forty dollars; two hundred fifty cent pieces, silver coin of the United States; two gold watch chains of the value of twenty dollars; the moneys and property of Walter O’Shea, from the person of Walter O’Shea and against his will, by violence to his person; and the said Archie Brown, James Johnson and Jos. Swoards, while then and there engaged in the commission of such robbery, maliciously, unlawfully and feloniously thexr and there assaulted Daniel Sprague with a pistol, then and there charged with gunpowder and leaden ball, by shooting at him, the said Sprague, with said pistol, with intent, him, the said Daniel Sprague, then and there to kill and murder. And the said Archie Brown, James Johnson and Jos. Swoards then and there by their said act of shooting at said Daniel Sprague as aforesaid, killed and murdered Louis Joseph by then and there shooting him with said pistol so loaded and charged with gunpowder and leaden ball as aforesaid, contrary to the statutes in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of ^ ate of Oregon.
“Dated at Portland, in the county aforesaid, this twenty-second day of October, 1878.
“J. P. Caples, District Attorney.”

On the twenty-eighth of October, 1878, the defendants demurred to the indictment, on the grounds:

1. That it charged more than one offense;

[197]*1972. That the indictment is insufficient in law to constitute an offense.

The demurrer having been overruled, the defendant Brown was put upon his trial and convicted of murder in the first degree, as char’ged. On the twenty-first day of November, 1878, he filed his motion for a new trial, alleging:

1. Misconduct and irregularities of the jury that occurred during the trial;

2. Insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict, and that it is against law;

3. Error in law occurring during and at the trial, and excepted to by the defendant.

The motion for a new trial was overruled by the court and the defendant sentenced to be hung. From this judgment he appeals to this court. The first objection is raised on the demurrer to the indictment. It is insisted that it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a crime, because it does not allege a purpose on the part of the defendant to take the life of Louis Joseph, the person killed.' The indictment is based on section 506 of the Criminal Code, which reads as follows: “If any person shall purposely and of deliberate and premeditated malice, or in the commission or attempt to commit any rape, arson, robbery or burglary, kill another, such person shall be deemed guilty of murder in the first degree.”

It is insisted, on the part of the appellant, that the indictment is insufficient, because it does not charge that the defendant purposely killed Louis Joseph while in the eom- ' mission of the robbery. The case of Robbins v. The State, 8 Ohio State R. 131, is referred to in support of this view. It is sufficient for us to say that while the statute of Ohio, defining the crime of murder, is somewhat similar to our own, yet there is such a difference between them as to warrant us in saying that the decision in that case is not in point in construing the statute of Oregon. In that case two out of the five judges dissented from the opinion of the court upon the very point now presented for consideration and which this court is urged to adopt. The reasons ad[198]*198duced in support of that decision are unsatisfactory, and we decline to adopt them in construing our own statute.

In an indictment for murder in the first degree under our code it is necessary to allege that the killing was done purposely, and of deliberate and premeditated malice, except in cases where the killing was done in the commission or attempt to commit any rape, arson, robbery or burglary, in which cases it is not necessary to allege in the indictment that thekilling was done either purposely or with deliberate and premeditated malice. The meaning of the section, according to grammatical rules of construction, is as though it read as follows: “If any person shall purposely, and of deliberate and premeditated malice, kill another, or if any person shall, in the commission or attempt to commit any rape, arson, robbery or burglary, kill another, such person shall be deemed guilty of murder in the first degree.”

When a homicide takes place in the commission of a robbery it is not necessary, in order to constitute murder in the first degree, that the one perpetrating it should purposely kill the person slain, and where purpose is not required to, constitute the crime it need not be alleged in the indictment.

Section 71 of the Criminal Code declares'that “the manner of stating the act constituting the crime, as set forth in the appendix to this code, is sufficient in all cases where the forms there given are applicable.”

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Bluebook (online)
7 Or. 186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brown-or-1879.