State v. Nelson

80 S.W. 947, 181 Mo. 340, 1904 Mo. LEXIS 118
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 10, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 80 S.W. 947 (State v. Nelson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Nelson, 80 S.W. 947, 181 Mo. 340, 1904 Mo. LEXIS 118 (Mo. 1904).

Opinion

FOX, J.

The indictment in this case was found by a grand jury of Jackson county, Missouri, and was filed in said criminal court on the fifth day of January, 1900.

At the January term, 1903, of said court, defendant was tried and convicted of murder in the second degree, upon such indictment, and punishment assessed at ten years in the State penitentiary.

Motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment were duly filed, and being overruled by the court, defendant prosecutes his appeal to this court, and the record is now before us for review.

[342]*342This prosecution and eonvietion is predicated upon an indictment which, omitting caption, is as follows:

“The grand jurors for the State of Missouri, within and for the body of the county of Jackson, upon their oath present, that Joseph Nelson, late of the county aforesaid, on the 2nd day of January, 1900, at the county of Jackson, State of Missouri, in and upon one David Jones then and there being, feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of his malice aforethought did make an assault, and a certain revolving pistol, which was then and there loaded with gunpowder and leaden bullets, and by him the said Joseph Nelson in his hands then and there had and held, he the said Joseph Nelson did then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of his malice aforethought, discharge and shoot off at, upon and against him, the said David Jones, and him, the said David Jones, with the leaden bullets aforesaid, out of the pistol aforesaid, then and there, by force of the gunpowder aforesaid, by the said Joseph Nelson shot off and discharged as aforesaid, then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of his malice aforethought, did strike, penetrate and wound the said David Jones in and upon the body of him, the said David Jones, thus and thereby then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose- and of his malice aforethought, giving to him, the said David Jones, with the leaden bullets aforesaid, so as aforesaid discharged and shot off out of the pistol aforesaid, by the said Joseph Nelson one mortal wound, of which said mortal wound the said David Jones, from the second day of January in the year aforesaid until the second day of January in the year aforesaid did languish and languishing did live, on which said second day in the year aforesaid, the said David Jones, at the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, [343]*343©f the mortal wound aforesaid, died; and so the grand jurors aforesaid do say that the said Joseph Nelson, Mm, the said David Jones, at the county and State aforesaid, in the manner and by the means aforesaid, feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of his malice aforethought, did kill and murder; against the peace and dignity of the State.”

This is the second appeal in this cause, and it is conceded by appellant, as well as by the State, that the facts developed in the trial of this cause are substantially the same as they appear in the record of the former appeal; hence, it can serve no useful purpose to burden this opinion with a restatement of the facts. [See State v. Nelson, 166 Mo. 191.]

The facts, in connection with the action of the court, during the progress of the trial, will be given proper attention in the course of the opinion.

Opinion.

This appeal presents two propositions for solution:

First. It is urged that the indictment is fatally defective, and charges no offense against the laws of this State.-

Second. That the statements or remarks of the trial court to the jury, in respect to .their duty in reaching a verdict, constituted prejudicial error, which warrants the reversal of the judgment.

Upon the former appeal, the validity of the indictment was not called in question; however, this court held it was sufficient. Upon this appeal it is earnestly urged that the indictment is fatally defective and fails to charge any offense against the laws of the State.

We have carefully considered the views expressed by counsel for appellant upon this proposition, have read and considered the allegations in the indictment with a marked degree of interest, and have reached the conclusion that the indictment sufficiently charges the [344]*344defendant --with, the infliction of the wounds upon the deceased, from which it is claimed he died.

We are not unmindful of what this court held in State v. Edwards, 70 Mo. 480; it is apparent from a comparison of the terms used in the indictment before us, and the one in the Edwards case, that they can be clearly distinguished. The indictment in this cause is sufficient.

Upon the second proposition, to fully appreciate the action of the court complained of, it is appropriate that we quote from the disclosures of the record in respect to that contention. The record discloses that in the trial of this cause and at the close of the argument, “The jury retired to consider their verdict on Saturday, the fourteenth day of February, 1903, at 1:30 p. m. o ’clock, and remained out until Monday, the sixteenth, at 10:30 a. m.

“Sunday intervened between the day the jury retired and returned into court with the verdict. During this Sunday the jury were kept in a room altogether, and separate from every one else at the hotel, with instructions from the court if they should arrive at a verdict on Sunday to notify him and he would receive it.

‘ ‘ On Monday, the sixteenth day of February, 1903, at 10:30 a. m., the jury being brought into open court, the following proceedings were had and done:

‘ ‘ The Court: Have you agreed upon a verdict.
“Mr. Ireland: No, sir.
“The Court: You have been unable to agree?
“Mr. Ireland: We have been unable to agree.
‘ ‘ The Court: It has developed here in the ease this is the third trial of this case; now it is to the interest of society, and of the defendant here, and to everybody concerned, that this matter should be settled.
“Now, here is a jury of twelve intelligent men of Jackson county; unless there is some pride of opinion in the way, it looks like you ought to make a verdict, you ought to make an effort to get together. Get to-» [345]*345gether and make a verdict. Take the jury back to their room, Mr. marshal.
“Mr. Garner: We except to the remarks of the court.\

After the remarks of the court complained of, about 4:30 p. m. on the same day, the jury returned into court their verdict of guilty.

The expression of this court has been uniform and unbroken in strictly maintaining the doctrine that the province of the court and jury, in the trial of a cause, are distinct and separate. The rule is clearly stated in McPeak v. Railroad, 128 Mo. 617. It was said in that case:

“The functions of the court and of the jury are necessarily separate and distinct, and so they should remain. No encroachment should be suffered by either tribunal upon the other, for in this way is justice best administered. This court has ever sedulously maintained the strict line of demarcation between the functions of the court and those of the jury. ’ ’

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Bluebook (online)
80 S.W. 947, 181 Mo. 340, 1904 Mo. LEXIS 118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-nelson-mo-1904.