State v. Mangana

33 Nev. 511
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 15, 1910
DocketNo. 1880
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 33 Nev. 511 (State v. Mangana) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada 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. Mangana, 33 Nev. 511 (Neb. 1910).

Opinions

By the Court,

Talbot, J.

(after stating the facts as above):

As error it is urged by counsel for defendant that the case was presented to the jury upon two theories: First, that the appellant was guilty as charged in the indict[517]*517ment with .killing the deceased with malice aforethought; second, that the homicide was committed in the perpetration of robbery; and that, as the court submitted the case upon both theories, it is impossible for any one. to say for what crime the appellant was convicted.

It" will be observed that the indictment follows closely the form provided by the statute. Section 17 of the act relating to crimes and punishments provides that: "All murder which shall be perpetrated by means of poison, or lying in wait, torture, or by any other kind of wilful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which shall be committed in the perpetration, or attempt to perpetrate any arson, rape, robbery, or burglary, shall be deemed murder of the first degree.” (Comp. Laws, 4672.)

Under this statute and the indictment as drawn, defendant could be convicted of either wilful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or of a killing committed in the perpetration of a robbery, whether it was or was not wilful, deliberate, and premeditated. If the defendant in advance planned or intended to kill in order to accomplish the robbery, and in pursuance of that intent did kill the deceased, he was guilty of both a wilful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, and of a killing in the perpetration of a robbery. These are not separate statutory homicides, and if the jury believed, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant was guilty of killing in either one or both of these ways, they were justified in the rendition of the verdict carrying the extreme penalty. If the indictment had unnecessarily charged that the killing was committed in the perpetration of a robbery, and there had been no evidence indicating that it was committed in such perpetration, proof that the killing was wilful, deliberate, and premeditated would have been at variance with the allegation in the indictment, and an instruction in such a case, based upon the two theories of wilful, deliberate, and premeditated killing and of a killing in the perpetration of robbery, and directing the jury that they could convict upon either, would have been erroneous.

[518]*518The evidence in this case is stronger than that on which Dr. Crippen was recently convicted and promptly hanged in London, and it is'sufficient to justify the conclusion that the killing was done wilfully, deliberately, and premeditatedly for the purpose of accomplishing robbery. But if the evidence indicated that there was a robbery, and there was no evidence indicating a previous intention to kill, nevertheless the killing committed in the perpetration of the robbery would be presumed to have been wilful, deliberate, and premeditated.

In State v. Lindsay, 19 Nev. 50, 3 Am. St. Rep. 776, Justice Hawley, speaking for this court, said: "Under this statute there are certain kinds of murder which carry with them conclusive evidence of premeditation, viz, when the killing is premeditated by means of poison, lying in wait, or torture; or when the homicide is committed in the perpetration, or attempt to perpetrate, any of the felonies enumerated in this statute. In these cases the question whether the killing was wilful, deliberate, and premeditated is answered by the statute in the affirmative, and, if the prisoner is guilty of the offense charged, it is murder in the first degree. (State v. Hymer, 15 Nev. 50, and authorities cited.)"

It has often been held that a felony and a homicide committed in perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate it, together, constitute the one crime of murder and may be charged as such and in the same manner as ordinary murders are alleged, and that it is not necessary to charge in the indictment that the murder was committed in the perpetration of another crime in order to introduce testimony showing that a felony was committed in addition to it, and that, under an indictment charging murder in the ordinary form and proof that it was committed in the perpetration of a felony, malice, deliberation, and premeditation are implied. (State v. Meyers, 99 Mo. 107, 13 S. W. 516; People v. Giblin, 115 N. Y. 196, 21 N. E. 1062, 4 L. R. A. 757; State v. Covington, 117 N. C. 834, 23 S. E. 337; People v. Sullivan, 173 N. Y. 122, 65 N. E. 989, 63 L. R. A. 353, 93 Am. St. Rep. 582; State v. Johnson, 72 [519]*519Iowa, 393, 34 N. W. 177; Wall v. State, 18 Tex. 682, 70 Am. Dec. 302; Titus v. State, 49 N. J. Law, 36, 7 Atl. 621.)

In State v. Foster, 136 Mo. 653, 38 S. W. 721, it was held that, while the charge that a homicide was committed in an attempt to perpetrate a robbery is unnecessary, it will not vitiate an indictment for murder in the first degree, and that in such a case the indictment may be drawn in the common form.

In Reyes v. State, 10 Tex. App. 1, it was held that evidence tending to show that the killing was done in the perpetration of arson, rape, robbery, or burglary is admissible as part of the res gestee on the trial under an indictment charging murder with express malice aforethought.

In People v. Flanagan, 174 N. Y. 357, 66 N. E. 988, on an indictment for murder in the first degree, a conviction for murder perpetrated while committing a felony, although not specially pleaded, was sustained, and it was said- that deliberation and premeditation need not be found.

In State v. McGinnis, 158 Mo. 106, 59 S. W. 83, it was held that it is proper in a trial under an indictment which only charges murder to instruct the jury that, if the homicide was perpetrated in an attempt to commit robbery, the defendant was guilty of murder in the first degree.

In State v. Weems, 96 Iowa, 428, 65 N. W. 587, the indictment was in the usual form and without averments as to the murder having been committed in an attempt to perpetrate robbery, and it was held proper to instruct the jury that, if two or more persons conspire to commit robbery, and in pursuance of such conspiracy they or either of them kill a human being, it is murder.

In State v. King, 24 Utah, 483, 68 Pac. 418, 91 Am. St. Rep. 808, the information for murder contained the usual charge regarding malice and premeditation, but did not mention robbery. It was held sufficient to charge murder in the first degree; and that evidence to show that it was committed in the perpetration of a robbery was properly admissible; and that when two or more persons [520]*520associate together to rob another, and he is killed by one of them, the act is that of each and all of the conspirators, and all are chargeable therewith. (State v. Schmidt, 136 Mo. 652, 38 S. W. 719.)

It is claimed that some of the instructions given by the court were erroneous, and more particularly the following: "The jury are instructed that in this case evidence of flight has been introduced.

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Bluebook (online)
33 Nev. 511, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mangana-nev-1910.