State v. Henley

30 Mo. 509
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided July 15, 1860·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

EwiNG, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the couijL fEAIi]

This was an indictment for burglary and i^nte. the sixteenth section of the third article of the|ac$ concern^ ing crimes and punishments, which declares -- person convicted of breaking and entering any stem, stop , booth, tent, warehouse, or other building, or any boatW*V8!wss».' sel, in which there shall be at the time some human being, or any goods, wares, merchandise or other valuable thing kept or deposited, with intent to steal or commit any felony therein, shall, on conviction, be adjudged guilty of burglary in the second degree.” The indictment charges that the defendant “ at, &c., on, &c., feloniously and forcibly did break into and enter a certain mea¡t-house and building, the property of one Jesse B. Baber, then and there being, by forcibly breaking the lock and door thereof, in which said meat-house and building there were then and there, at the time aforesaid, goods, wares and merchandise and other valuable things kept and deposited; and that' the said Stephen Henley so brake into and entered said meat-house and building [512] as aforesaid, with intent then and there to commit a larceny by then and there feloniously stealing, taking and carrying away the goods, chattels and personal property of the said Jesse B. Baber, and five pieces of pork of the value of ten dollars, five pieces of bacon of the value of ten dollars, eighty pounds of pork of the value of ten dollars, and one bag of meal of the value of one dollar, all of the goods, chattels and personal property and valuable things of the said Jesse B. Baber, then and there being found in said meat-house and building, he, the said Stephen Henley, did then and there feloniously steal, take and carry away, contrary,” &c.

It is maintained that the indictment is defective in omitting to charge the offence definitely and with the requisite certainty; that it fails to charge a breaking and entering of the building with intent to commit a felony therein, or to steal the goods, &c., of the said Baber which were at the time kept and deposited in said building. The constituents of the grade of burglary intended to be charged are a breaking and entering a building, in which there are goods, &o., kept, with intent to steal such goods. The indictment alleges the breaking and entering the house of Baber; that there were at the time goods, chattels, &c., kept and deposited therein, and then it alleges the intent with which the house was broken and entered — namely, to commit a felony by taking and carrying away the goods and personal property of said Baber, which are enumerated, and then adds, “ all of the goods, chattels and personal property of the said Jesse B. Baber, then and there being found in said meat-house and building, he, the said Henley, did then and there feloniously steal,” &c. The charge totidem verbis of an intent to steal the goods kept or deposited in said house would not, it is conceived, be more specific or certain than the averment, in the language of the indictment, of a breaking and entering with an intent to steal and carry away the goods of Baber, there being an antecedent averment that the building so burgla-riously entered was the property of Baber, and that goods [513] and chattels were kept or deposited therein. If the defendant is charged with a burglary with intent to steal the goods of Baber, which were then kept in the house so entered, what is the obvious intendment of the allegation that he entered said house with intent to steal the goods of Baber ? What goods but those deposited in the house does the averment apply to? Were they other goods — goods kept elsewhere than in the building which he is charged with having entered with 'intent -to steal ?

But the objection to the indiciment is invalid on another ground. Had there been no averment in so many words of a felonious intent in charging the offence of burglary, the charge of an actual felony in stealing the goods is a sufficient averment of intent. If the indictment charge a burglary with intent to commit a felony, it will be supported by evidence of a felony actually committed. And it seems sufficient, in all cases where a felony has actually been committed, to allege the commission of it, as that is sufficient evidence of intention. (1 Hale, 560; 2 East P. C. c. 15, § 25, p. 514 ; Rex v. Furinal, Run. Ry. 445.) An indictment in this respect may be drawn, says Archibald, in his work on Criminal Pleading and Practice, (vol. 2, p. 329,) in three ways — namely, stating the breaking and entry with intent to commit a felony; stating the breaking and entry and a felony actually committed; or stating the breaking and entry with intent to commit a felony, and also stating the felony to have been actually committed. The latter, he observes, is the' preferable mode and that always adopted in practice; for if you fail to prove the felony committed, you may still convict of the burglary; or if you fail to prove the intent, &a., you may convict of the felony. In Jones v. The State, 11 N. H. 270, Justice Gilchrist, in delivering the opinion, says, it is well settled by the authorities, that in an indictment for burglary, the allegation and proof of the stealing are sufficient, without an averment of an intent to steal. To the same effect, Com. v. Brown, 3 Rawle, 207 ; State v. Ayer, 3 Fost. 301.

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State v. Henley, 30 Mo. 509 (Mo. 1860).

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