State v. Clark

47 S.W. 886, 147 Mo. 20, 1898 Mo. LEXIS 126
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 7, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 47 S.W. 886 (State v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Clark, 47 S.W. 886, 147 Mo. 20, 1898 Mo. LEXIS 126 (Mo. 1898).

Opinion

SHERWOOD, J.

— The conviction in the case at bar was of murder in the first degree, the indictment as follows:

“And the grand jurors aforesaid, upon.their oaths aforesaid, do further present and charge that said Thomas Olark on the 5th day of June, 1897, at the county of Jackson, and State of Missouri, then and there being, in and upon one Lizzie Williamson, alias Lizzie Olark, then and there being, feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of his malice aforethought, did make an assault, and with a dangerous and deadly weapon, to wit, a certain revolving pistol, then and there loaded with gunpowder and leaden balls, which he, the said Thomas Olark, in both his hands then and there had and held, at and against her, the said Lizzie Williamson, alias Lizzie Olark, then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of his malice aforethought, did shoot off and discharge and with the revolving pistol aforesaid and the gunpowder and leaden balls aforesaid, then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of his malice aforethought, did shoot and strike one Lizzie Hatch, then and there being on the body of her, the said lizzie' Hatch’ then and there with the dangerous and deadly weapon, to wit, the revolving pistol aforesaid, and the gunpowder and leaden balls aforesaid, in and upon the body of her, the said Lizzie Hatch, then and there and thereby feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of his malice aforethought, giving to her, the said Lizzie Hatch, one mortal wound, of which said mortal wound, she, the said Lizzie Hatch, then and there instantly died. And so the grand jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do say that the said Thomas Clark, her, the said Lizzie Hatch, in the manner and by the means aforesaid, feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of his malice aforethought, did kill and murder, against the peace and dignity of the State.”

[28]*281. The first count in the indictment is undoubtedly good. As much, however, can not be said of the second. The evidence shows that Lizzie Hatch is the mother, and Lizzie Williamson, alias Lizzie Clark, is her daughter.

Now the second count charges an assault with a revolver upon Lizzie Williamson, alias Lizzie Clark,-then the discharge of the pistol had and held against Lizzie Clark, alias Williamson, then the shooting and striking “of one Lizzie Hatch,” etc. Who Lizzie Hatch is, whether she is the same person mentioned in the first count, we are not informed. If the words had been, “the said Lizzie Hatch,” then under the rulings of this court and elsewhere the reference to the person mentioned in the first count would perhaps have been sufficient. [State v. Wagner, 118 Mo. loc. cit. 629, and cases cited.]

But had the words “the said,” etc., been used, the count would still have been insufficient for the reason that as the counts stands the assault is alleged to have been made on one person, to wit, Lizzie Williamson, etc., and the battery done upon another, to wit, Lizzie Hatch. But an assault is. always necessary to be charged when a battery occurs in the perpetration of a murder. [Lester v. State, 9 Mo. 658; 2 Bishop, New Crim. Proc., sec. 537; Whart., Hom., sec. 808; 1 Whar., Crim. L. (9 Ed.), sec. 518; 1 Arch. Cr. Proc., 789.] And of course, both the assault and the battery must be alleged to have been made and done on the same person or else there would be a murder perpetrated by means of a battery without an assault having first been made. But an objection still more grave confronts the validity of the count under review, because: “Where the party shoots at one man and kills another, malice will be implied as to the latter; and the felonious intent is transferred, on the same ground, where poison is laid to destroy one person and is taken by another.” [3 Chitty, Crim. Law, 129; 1 Hale, P. C., 466.] And where the felonious intent is thus transferred, the indictment must [29]*29be drawn accordingly, to wit, it must allege that the assault was made on the party murdered, and so on, in all respects, just as if the party hilled had been the party shot at. So are all the precedents in this State and elsewhere. [State v. Henson, 81 Mo. 384; State v. Payton, 90 Mo. 220; State v. Jump, 90 Mo. 171; State v. Montgomery, 91 Mo. 52; State v. Gilmore, 95 Mo. 554; State v. Pollard, 139 Mo. 220; 1 Hale, P. C. 469-470. See, also, cases cited in note 2 to 9, Am. and Eng. Ency. of Law, 553; Reg. v. Michael, 9 C. & P. 356.] Eor these reasons the second count must be adjudged bad, and this being the case, the verdict being a general one will be held to be founded on and attached to the first count, that being a good one.

2. But aside from any other consideration the verdict should stand because, first, there was no evidence to support the second count, and because, second, even if there were the court did not instruct on that count and this is tantamount to an election by the State of an abandonment of the second count and a reliance on the first. [Stephens v. State, 36 Tex. Crim. Rep. 386.]

3. The correctness of the denial of the application for ■a continuance will now be discussed. The defendant was arrested in August, 1897; he pleaded to the indictment on the twenty-seventh day of September, 1897, and on that day the cause was set for trial on December 13, 1897; on the second day of October, 1897, T. A.

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Bluebook (online)
47 S.W. 886, 147 Mo. 20, 1898 Mo. LEXIS 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-clark-mo-1898.