State v. Mox Mox

152 P. 802, 28 Idaho 176, 1915 Ida. LEXIS 111
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 1, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 152 P. 802 (State v. Mox Mox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho 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. Mox Mox, 152 P. 802, 28 Idaho 176, 1915 Ida. LEXIS 111 (Idaho 1915).

Opinion

MORGAN, J.

The appellant was convicted of the crime of assault with a deadly weapon and has appealed to this court from the judgment pronounced against him and from the order of the trial court denying his motion for a new trial.

It appears from the record that on the night of March 9, 1914, James P. Welch, who was constable of Arrow Precinct, Nez Perce county, received information by telephone that appellant, who is a Nez Perce Indian, was intoxicated and had beaten his mother and had driven her from home, and the officer was requested to place him under arrest. Accordingly he, in company with his son-in-law, went to the residence of a relative of appellant, where the mother was staying for the night, and from there to a house where appellant and his wife [180]*180were sleeping, and, being unable to awaken the occupants of the house or to gain admission through the door, the constable, his son-in-law and an Indian who was with them, raised a window and entered the house; that the officer placed appellant under arrest and took into his possession a bottle of alcohol which he found there.

It further appears that at the time the arrest was made the appellant offered neither protest nor resistance; that the officer and his son-in-law took appellant and his wife to a point on the Northern Pacific railway known as Arrow Junction, where the son-in-law left the other parties, and that during the remainder of the night the officer kept watch while the prisoner and his wife slept. Early the next morning, according to the constable’s testimony, appellant asked permission to get a drink from the creek and while at the creek appellant attacked and overpowered him, and with the aid of the woman took from him the bottle of alcohol and his revolver, and by pointing the loaded weapon at him drove him up the railroad track a distance of about a mile to a thicket of brush, which he required him to enter. The witness further testified: “I told him, I says, ‘You are taking me up to murder me ? These people will come and get you if you do. ’ He was more quiet then. He held me there until 7 o’clock or after and then he told me to come back. ’ ’

Appellant and his wife tell a different story of what transpired while the parties were at Arrow Junction and thereafter. They testified that in the morning the constable gave each of them two drinks of alcohol from the bottle and took two drinks himself and that while the officer was taking a drink from the creek appellant, noticing that he was in an intoxicated condition and fearing he would do damage with the weapon removed the revolver from his pocket, extracted the cartridges from it and retained it in his possession; that the officer then voluntarily accompanied them a part of the way toward their home and that no assault was made upon him; also that they had some more drinks together from the bottle and that thé constable was considerably under the influence of liquor. Certain other Indians testified to having [181]*181seen the officer early in the morning and that he was intoxicated.

The officer denied that he drank any liquor and certain witnesses, one of them the sheriff of the county, who saw him early in the morning, testified that they were unable to detect any trace of intoxicating liquor about him.

The evidence is very conflicting and it is urged by appellant that it is insufficient to support the verdict. The rule is well settled in this state that where there is a substantial conflict in the evidence and, taken as a whole, it is sufficient to sustain the verdict, a judgment based thereon will not be disturbed upon appeal. (Montgomery v. Gray (on rehearing), 26 Ida. 583, 585, 144 Pac. 646, and cases there cited; State v. Hopkins, 26 Ida. 741, 145 Pac. 1095; Price v. North Am Acc. Ins. Co., ante, p. 136, 152 Pac. 805.) In this case there is ample evidence to support the verdict.

The appellant contends that the trial judge committed error by certain remarks he made during the trial, and that the legitimate scope of cross-examination was curbed and denied. It appears from the record that during the cross-examination of the witness Welch, after it had been shown that appellant and his wife slept while at Arrow Junction and that they had no blankets, but used some old shawls for covering, the following occurred:

“Q. What was the condition of the weather as to being cold or otherwise ?
“The Court: Mr. Welch is not on trial in this case; Tom Mox Mox is on trial; the question is whether he assaulted him at Arrow Junction. ’ ’

It is urged that these remarks were in the nature of a rebuke to counsel for appellant; that the court thereby virtually said to the jury that counsel were “pettifogging” and were not attempting to defend their client, but were attempting to substitute the prosecuting witness for the defendant.

While no objection was made to the question by counsel for respondent and the record does not disclose any conduct upon the part of counsel for appellant which merited rebuke, we cannot infer from anything in the record that the trial [182]*182judge intended the remark as a rebuke; it rather appears to us that it was a manifestation of a desire upon his part to confine the proceedings to the real point in issue and to expedite the trial. We do not find that the remark above quoted was prejudicial to the rights of the appellant nor that the trial judge committed error in making it. The extent of cross-examination upon collateral or immaterial matters is largely within the discretion of the trial judge, and it cannot be said that the court in this case committed error in limiting counsel Tor the appellant, in the cross-examination of respondent’s witness, since such limitation was intended to confine the investigation to the issues involved. (Just v. Idaho Canal etc. Co., 16 Ida. 639, 133 Am. St. 140, 102 Pac. 381; State v. Reilly, 25 N. D. 339, 141 N. W. 720; Gatzemeyer v. Peterson, 68 Neb. 832, 94 N. W. 974; Rand v. Newton, 6 Allen (88 Mass.), 38.)

The remaining assignments of error, which we deem necessary to be considered in order to reach a decision of this case, relate to the instructions given to the jury and to certain instructions requested by appellant which the court refused to give. One portion of the instructions given, particularly complained of, is as follows:

“I instruct you, gentlemen, that a constable is a peace officer, and that when a peace officer has reasonable cause to believe that a crime is being committed, or about to be committed by some other person, he has the right and it is his duty to endeavor to stop the commission of the crime, and apprehend the person who has committed or is about to commit the crime, regardless of whether he has a warrant in his possession or not.”

It is urged that this is error: First, in that it assumes that appellant had, prior to his arrest, committed a crime or that he was engaged in committing one at that time; Second,- in that it assumes that a person may be arrested without a warrant for a past misdemeanor not committed in the presence of the officer performing the arrest.

As we view this instruction, it is not subject to these objections. It does not assume that appellant was, at the time [183]*183of his arrest, engaged in the commission of a crime nor that he had committed one prior thereto.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
152 P. 802, 28 Idaho 176, 1915 Ida. LEXIS 111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mox-mox-idaho-1915.