State v. Eddy

81 P. 941, 46 Or. 625, 1905 Ore. LEXIS 85
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 7, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 81 P. 941 (State v. Eddy) 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. Eddy, 81 P. 941, 46 Or. 625, 1905 Ore. LEXIS 85 (Or. 1905).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Moore

delivered the opinion of the court.

The defendant Jesse Eddy was jointly tried and convicted with J ames Winkle of the crime of robbery, upon an indictment, the charging part of which is as follows:

“They, the said Jesse' Eddy and James Winkle, on the 24th day of February, A. D. 1905, in the County of Lane and the State of Oregon then and there being and then and there acting together, did then and there unlawfully and feloniously take from the person of William Dompire one ten-dollar gold coin, two one-dollar silver coins and four one-half-dollar silver coins, all of the said coins being then and there lawful money of the United States of - America, and of the coinage of said nation. That the said money was then and there unlawfully and feloniously taken from the person of the said William Dompire, against his will and by violence to his person and by putting him in fear of force and violence to his person, contrary,” etc.

Eddy separately appeals from the judgment rendered against him, his counsel contending that an error Avas committed by the trial court in overruling a demurrer interposed to the indictment on the grounds that the formal charge did not substantially conform to the requirements of Chapter 8 of Title 18, B. & C. Comp., that more than one crime was charged, and that the facts stated did not ponstitue a crime.

1. The provisions of our statute, relating to -the sufficiency of a criminal charge, so far as considered involved herein, are as follows: “The indictment must be direct and certain, as it regards (1) the party charged; (2) the crime charged; and (3) the particular circumstances of the crime charged when they are necessary to constitute a complete crime”: B. & C. Comp. § 1306. “The indictment is sufficient if it can be understood therefrom * * (3) that the defendant is named; * * (6) that the act or omission charged as the crime is clearly and distinctly set- forth, in ordinary and concise language, without repetition, [627]*627and in such a manner as to enable a person of common understanding to know what is intended”: B. & C. Comp. § 1314. An indictment or information must be positive in respect to the charge that the. person accused committed the act which renders him amenable to the law: 10 Enc. Pl. & Pr. 476. “The indictment,” says a text-writer, “must be certain as to the defendant’s name”: Wharton, Crim. Pl. & Pr. (8 ed.), § 96. “The name,” says Mr. Chief Justice Johnson in State v. Hand, 6 Ark. 165, “should be. repeated in every distinct allegation, but it will suffice to mention it once, as the nominative case, in one continuing sentence.” It is not necessary, however, that the defendant’s name should be constantly repeated in an indictment, if once stated in full, after which specification the name may be abbreviated when it occurs in the same count or sentence, with a reference to the prior statement of it, by the use of the word “said” or “aforesaid”: State v. Coppenburg, 2 Strob. 273. Thus, if John Smith be charged in an indictment with the commission of a crime, he may thereafter be referred to as “the said John” : Commonwealth v. Hagarman, 10 Allen, 401.

2. In the ease at bar an examination of the last clause of the indictment will show that the defendants’ names are not mentioned therein, nor any reference made to them as parties to the action, nor any pronoun used to designate them. It is noAvhere directly stated that the violence applied to the person of William Dompire, or the fear induced, to take the money from him, A?as used or exerted by either of the defendants. It may be inferred, from the statement in the second clause of the indictment “that the said money was then and there unlawfully and feloniously taken from the person of the said William Dompire,” that, since it had been charged in the first clause that the defendants “did then and there unlawfully and feloniously take from the person of William Dompire” certain moneys, the defendants Avere the persons charged with using force and fear to secure the money. It is not necessary to state in an indictment a presumption of law (B. & C. Comp. § 1316), but the rules of criminal pleading forbid that resort should be had to an inference, howeArer reasonable, to interpret the language of a formal charge, where certainty is demanded by statute.

[628]*6283. The indictment is not specific in respect to the party charged with using the force, which was a particular circumstance of the crime of robbery, and necessary to aver in order to constitute a complete offense.

4. It is argued by defendants’ counsel that robbery consists of larceny, aggravated by force or fear, and, this being so, it was necessary to state in the indictment the name of the person who owned the money alleged to have been taken. Our statute, prescribing the form of stating the facts constituting robbery is as follows: “Feloniously took a gold watch (or as the case may be) from the person of C. D., and against his will, by violence to his person (or putting him in fear of some immediate injury to his person)”: 1 B. &’0. Comp. p. 750, form No. 9. The statute declares that the manner of stating the act constituting the crime, as thus recommended, is sufficient in all cases where the forms given are applicable.: B. & C. Comp. § 1305. This legislative declaration has been repeatedly upheld in this court: State v. Dodson, 4 Or. 64; State v. Spencer, 6 Or. 152; State v. Wintzingerode, 9 Or. 153; State v. Ah Lee, 18 Or. 540 (23 Pac. 424); State v. Wright, 19 Or. 258 (24 Pac. 229). In State v. Dilley, 15 Or. 70 (13 Pac. 648), the question now presented was decided adversely to appellant’s contention; the court holding that, in an indictment for taking money by force from the person of another, it was not necessary, under our statute, to allege that the money taken was the property of another than the defendant. The decision there rendered is controlling in the case at bar. ’ n

For the error in overruling the demurrer to the part of the indictment to which attention has been called, the judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded for such further proceedings as may be necessary, not inconsistent with this opinion.

Reversed.

Decided 23 October, 1905.

On Motion to Modify Mandate.

Mr. Justice Moore delivered the opinion of the court.

5. The judgment in this action having been reversed, the cause was ordered to be remanded for such further proceedings as [629]*629might be necessary, not inconsistent with the opinion. The defendant’s counsel thereupon interposed a motion to discharge the prisoner, while counsel for the. State moved that the cause be remanded for a new trial. The statute regulating the procedure in criminal actions contains the following provisions: “The appellate court may reverse, affirm, or modify the judgment or order appealed from, and must, if necessary or proper, order a new trial”: B. & C. Comp. § 1485.

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

Related

State v. Warren
430 P.3d 1036 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2018)
State v. Davis
462 P.2d 448 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1969)
State v. Mims
385 P.2d 1002 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1963)
State v. McCarthy
83 P.2d 801 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1938)
State v. Smith
194 P. 131 (Montana Supreme Court, 1920)
Ah Poo v. Stevenson
163 P. 822 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1917)
State v. Robinson
145 P. 1057 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1915)
State v. Hosmer
142 P. 814 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1914)
State v. Parr
103 P. 434 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 P. 941, 46 Or. 625, 1905 Ore. LEXIS 85, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-eddy-or-1905.