State v. Lewis

173 Iowa 643
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 19, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 173 Iowa 643 (State v. Lewis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lewis, 173 Iowa 643 (iowa 1915).

Opinion

Ladd, J.

1. Robbery: assault with intent to rob: elements of “assault”: evidence. ' I. In the evening of May 22, 1914, Harold Tropp and Edwin M. Cox went to the Court Hotel in Fair-field, where they observed the proprietor, Dunlevy, asleep on a cot in a back room. Tropp took off his shoes and, armed with a leather sap and a loaded revolver, moved quietly to the head of the cot, when Dunlevy, feeling the presence of someone in the room, sprang to his feet. Tropp ran out, with Dunlevy after him. He stumbled or was knocked down, and-Dunlevy undertook to hold him, when Cox, who had waited in the wash room, struck Dunlevy with a lead pipe and both escaped. Dunlevy testified that no one had touched or tried to take anything from his person. Tropp, who had pleaded guilty, swore that he did not speak to or touch Dunlevy, but that he “made a movement under his pillow and he jumped”.

“Q. You were trying to sneak the money from under his pillow without waking him up? A. Yes, sir. Q. And just the minute he waked up you took to your heels? A. Yes, sir. '. . . Q. Did you have any intention at the time to get something if you had to take it away by force? A. No, I don’t believe I did. Q. What were you doing with the gun and billy? A. Just a bluff. Q. Your object was to scare? A. The gun was there for a bluff. I was to get the money without waking him.', Q. I will ask you whether or not you did have any intention of scaring the money out of Mr. Dunlevy? A. We went in there and when we seen he was asleep, that is the way that we were going to get the money. I had no — the gun was for a bluff. Q. For a bluff to whom ? A. To Dunlevy if he attacked me.”

Cox testified:

“When we went in there, Tropp went in to hit him and get the money. Q. Do you know what Harold’s intention was? A. He intended to hit Mm. Q. He had a pocket billy and a revolver? A. Yes, sir. Q. He said his intention was to get the man’s money ? A. Yes, sir. ”

[646]*646This is all the evidence bearing on the commission of the offense charged, and it is contended on the part of the defendant that it was insufficient to warrant a finding that Tropp was guilty of an assault with intent to rob; and therefore that Lewis, who was accused of having aided and abetted him therein, should have been acquitted. The charge is assault with intent to commit the crime of robbery. That offense is defined in the statute, in substance, as at common law, in declaring that "If any person, with force or violence, or by putting in fear, steal and take from the person of another any property that is the subject of larceny, he is guilty of robbery.” Sec. 4753, Code.

"If any person assault another with intent to . rob, steal ... he shall be ’ ’ punished as prescribed. Sec. 4770, Code.

Bobbery differs from larceny from the person in that the taking in the former must be by force or intimidation; while in the latter, this is not necessary. State v. Miller, 83 Iowa 291. Larceny from the person is included in the crime of robbery. State v. Reasby, 100 Iowa 231. And this being so, assault with intent to steal also is included within the offense charged in the indictment. The evidence leaves no doubt that Tropp slipped stealthily into the room to the head of the cot, with the design of stealing money from beneath Dunlevy’s pillow. But this alone would not be enough to constitute the crime charged; there must have been an assault. This has been defined often, but ordinarily with reference to the facts under consideration. The definition found in 3 Cyc. 1020, seems comprehensive and accurate:

"An assault is any attempt or offer, with force or violence, to do a corporal hurt to another, whether from malice or wantonness, with such circumstances as denote, at the time, an intention to do it, coupled with a present ability to carry such intention into effect.” State v. Cody, 94 Iowa 169; Tarver v. State, 43 Ala. 354; People v. Lilley, 43 Mich. 521. •

It has been described as inchoate violence with the person [647]*647of another, with present means of carrying the intent into effect. The intent is of the essence of the offense, and it is to be ascertained from the circumstances of each case. Richels v. State, 1 Sneed (Tenn.), 606. The authorities agree that there must be an attempt or offer to apply force to another, in addition to such intention, and the present means to give it effect. Haupt v. Swenson, 125 Iowa 694.

2. Robbert: assault with intent to reo: absence of assault in attempt: subsequent assault to escape: effect. Here Tropp had the means in his hands and, as said, might have entertained the purpose to use them in the contingency that it became necessary to do so in taking the money or in effecting his escape therewith. If he “made a movement under the pillow”, it was solely for the purpose of obtaining the money, and without intention to touch or injure Dunlevy in any manner; and therefore, this could not be said to constitute an assault. Commonwealth v. Ordway, 66 Mass. 270; Hall v. People, (Ill.) 49 N. E. 495. The force in robbery is that necessary to overcome resistance or overcome the person robbed, and this movement had no connection with either. Striking him with the lead pipe was . an assau^, but not in the perpetration of the °ffeiise undertaken. Tropp then had abandoned his purpose to rob or steal and was ... •, , . - -, ,, trying to make his escape, and Cox used the lead pipe merely to enable him to effect his escape. Had Tropp obtained money from beneath the pillow and had the lead pipe been used to enable him to retain it and carry it away, a different question would have been presented, and one upon which the authorities are not agreed. As what was done by Cox was after the intent to rob or steal had been abandoned, it could not have preceded or been concomitant with the undertaking to steal the money, and this is held essential, by the great weight of authority. Thomas v. State, 91 Ala. 34 (9 So. 81); Hanson v. State, 43 Ohio 376 (1 N. E. 136); 24 Am. & Eng. Encyc. of Law (2d Ed.) 996.

The mere fact that the attempt or endeavor to do violence is connected with a condition will not shield the accused. [648]*648State v. Mitchell, 139 Iowa 455. To amount to an attempt or endeavor essential to an assault, an act indicative of the intent is essential; for a man may intend what he will, so long as he does nothing towards carrying it out. State v. Thompson, 133 Iowa 741. If there is some distinct movement, violent in its nature, towards the victim and involved in the perpetration of the offense, such movement would seem sufficient to constitute an assault to commit. Quoting from 2 Bishop’s New Crim. Law, Sec. 1169, in defining what is essential in robbery: “An assault which has not traveled to a battery, or probably any such array of force as is calculated to create the reasonable apprehension, though short of a technical assault, suffices. ” See State v. Gorham, 55 N. H. 152. Thus, enticing a girl under ten years of age to a loft, with the purpose of ravishing her, was held, in Hays v. People, 15 N. Y. Com. Law (1 Hill) 351, to warrant a finding that the accused was guilty of an assault with intent to commit rape; for, having the Ghild in his power and within his reach, he exerted means to accomplish meditated violence on her person, the court saying:

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Bluebook (online)
173 Iowa 643, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lewis-iowa-1915.