State v. Murry

66 So. 963, 136 La. 253, 1914 La. LEXIS 1937
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedDecember 14, 1914
DocketNo. 20779
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 66 So. 963 (State v. Murry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Murry, 66 So. 963, 136 La. 253, 1914 La. LEXIS 1937 (La. 1914).

Opinion

O’NIELL, J.

The defendant was prosecuted and convicted under a bill of information charging:

“That George W. Murry, * * * in and upon [name], a boy about the age of 12 years, then and there being, feloniously did make an assault, and then and there feloniously, wickedly, and diabolically and against the order of nature, had a venereal affair with, and carnally knew, the said [name of boy], and then and there feloniously, wickedly, diabolically, and against the order of nature, with the said [name of boy], did commit and perpetrate the detestable and abominable crime of buggery (not to be named among Christians, to the great displeasure of Almighty God), contrary to the form of the statute of the state of Louisiana; in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the same.”

He has appealed from the verdict of guilty and a sentence of imprisonment in the state penitentiary for the term of six years.

[255]*255[1 ] The first bill of exceptions was reserved to the ruling of the court denying the defendant a continuance or postponement of the trial. On the 26th of May, the case was fixed for trial for the 3d of June; on the 1st day of June, it was reassigned to the 4th. When it was called up for trial, the defendant’s counsel moved for a continuance on the ground that one of the attorneys could not be present, and that another, who arrived in the town where the trial was had 2 days before the trial, had not had sufficient time to prepare the defense. The defendant was also represented by a local attorney who had been appointed by the court more than 10 days before the trial, which was reassigned to the 5th of June. I-Ie was represented by two attorneys at the trial.

Motions for continuance based upon the absence or want of preparation of one of the defendant’s attorneys, when he is represented also by others, are addressed to the discretion of the trial judge, and his exercise of that discretion will not be interfered with when it does not appear that it was abused. State v. Perry, 51 La. Ann. 1077, 25 South. 944.

The second bill of exceptions was reserved to the ruling of the trial judge, overruling an objection by the defendant’s counsel to the testimony of the boy named in the bill of information, that the crime was committed by the defendant forcing the boy to receive the sexual organ of the accused into the boy’s mouth. The objection was twofold: (1) That the bill of information did not charge any crime under the law of this state; and (2) that the testimony or proof did not correspond with the averments of the bill of information.

It is not stated, in this bill of exceptions, that the witness gave the testimony anticipated and objected to, further than that the objection was overruled, from which it might be assumed that the evidence was admitted. Nor does the trial judge deny, in the statement per curiam in this bill, that the testimony given by the prosecuting witness was as anticipated and recited in the objection. On the contrary, in his statement per curiam in another bill of exceptions, the trial judge says that the crime was committed in the boy’s mouth, and that the proof of it consisted of the testimony of the boy and of another witness who saw the defendant in the act, these two being the only witnesses against the accused.

This objection to the proof of a crime against nature, committed in a manner different from that charged in the bill of information, was urged when the first witness, the prosecuting witness, was put upon the stand, and before any evidence was introduced. And the bill of exceptions recites that the objection was made as a general objection to apply to any and all such proof or testimony by or from any and all witnesses, and that this general objection was overruled for the reasons given by the judge.

These recitals in the bill of exceptions, taken in connection with the statement per curiam in the other bill that the proof was that the crime was committed in the boy’s mouth, supply the omission of the statement from the second bill of exceptions, and present the fact clearly to this court that the testimony objected to was actually given to the jury.

[2] The third and last bill of exceptions presents precisely the same issues as are contained in the second bill. The third bill was reserved to the overruling of the defendant’s motion in arrest of judgment, and it sets forth precisely the same objections as are contained in the second bill. The objection that the proof was at variance with the allegations of the indictment or bill of information is not properly tendered in a motion in arrest of judgment, which can only be founded upon an error patent on the face of the record. State v. Crawford, 32 La. [257]*257Ann. 526; State v. Evans, 104 La. 343, 29 South. 112; State v. Pellerin, 118 La. 548, 43 South. 159. The objection that the bill of information does not charge the commission of any crime, which objection, if well founded, would have been properly urged in the motion in arrest of judgment, may be disposed of by the statement that the bill of information charges the commission of the common-law crime against nature known as “buggery.”. In the case of State v. Williams, 34 La. Ann. 87, decided before the adoption of Act No. 69 of 1896, it was said:

“The requirements of the common-law indictment in describing the offense, including its additional qualification as ‘buggery,’ are fully complied with.”

As is said in the brief of the counsel for the state, the form of the bill of information in this case was copied verbatim from Bishop’s Forms, p. 547, Bishop’s Criminal Practice (4th Ed.) vol. 2, § 1013.

The objection, properly presented by the motion in arrest of judgment and in the third bill of exceptions, that the bill of information does not charge the commission of any crime is therefore without merit; and the issue improperly presented in this motion and bill of exceptions, that is, whether testimony was admissible to prove that the statutory crime against nature was committed with the sexual organ of the accused in the mouth of the prosecutor, under a bill of information charging the commission of the common-law crime against nature known as “buggery,” is properly presented for our consideration in the second bill of exceptions, and it is the only serious question to be decided.

The'only reason assigned by the trial judge for overruling the defendant’s general objection to the admission of testimony or proof at variance with the allegations of the bill of information is the statement per curiam in the second bill of exceptions, viz.:

“The bill of information, to the mind of the court, substantially sets forth the crime against nature according to the requirements of the statute.”

The common-law crime against nature was originally denounced by the law of this state by section 2 of Act No. 50, approved Hay 4, 1805, entitled “An act for the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors.” This section was reproduced as section 5 of Act No. 120 of 1855, and was adopted as section 788 of the Revised Statutes of 1870, viz.;

“Whoever shall be convicted of the detestable and abominable crime against nature, committed with mankind or beast, shall suffer imprisonment at hard labor for life.”

This section of the Revised Statutes was amended and re-enacted in Act No. 69 of 1896 so as to read as follows: '

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Bluebook (online)
66 So. 963, 136 La. 253, 1914 La. LEXIS 1937, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-murry-la-1914.