State v. Truskett

118 P. 1047, 85 Kan. 804, 1911 Kan. LEXIS 150
Supreme Court of Kansas·Decided November 11, 1911·No. No. 17,647·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Benson, J.:

The appellant, A. A. Truskett, was convicted of murder in the second degree, in killing J. D. S. Neely, at Caney, on January 7, 1911. The grounds of appeal are: that the information was defective; that a motion for a continuance was improperly refused; that several jurors were incompetent; and that erroneous, rulings were made respecting evidence and in giving and refusing instructions.

The information was direct and certain, and the offense was clearly charged as required by the criminal code. (Crim. Code, §§ 104, 109.) The criticism is that it was not charged in the information that a mortal wound was inflicted upon the deceased. As the information, in ample form, charged that the appellant shot and killed the deceased with a pistol, it seems a wound was inevitable — a shot that kills, in the ordinary course of events, must wound. It is true that in many of the time-honored forms of indictment the infliction of a mortal wound is set out, and it may be that some courts have held the omission of such an allegation fatal, but our statute provides simple rules which fully protect the rights of the accused without needlessly encumber[806] ing the record with useless repetition and verbiage. A person who is plainly charged with willful, deliberate and premeditated murder by shooting another with a revolver can not fail to understand the nature of the charge whereof he is accused.

The jurors were examined at length respecting opinions and prejudices. They had read newspaper reports such as are usually published in cases of homicide. As ordinarily happens, apparently contradictory answers were given in some instances. From some of the answers settled opinions respecting the issue of guilt or innocence appeared, but' further examination revealed that no fixed opinions had been formed, and only such impressions were made as are usually incidental to such reading, without leaving any real conviction on the subject. The court patiently endeavored, through examination by counsel and by an occasional question from the bench, to ascertain whether a challenged juror was really disqualified because of his opinions upon the issue. This subject has been recently considered in The State v. Stewart, ante, p. 404, 116 Pac. 489. Within the principles stated in the opinion in that case, the court did not err in overruling the challenges. It should be observed that the fact of killing was not controverted on the trial, and so a belief that the appellant had killed the deceased was unimportant .unless there was’ a settled opinion that the killing was criminal.

The appellant asked for a continuance to procure the testimony of three witnesses, two of whom, however, appeared at the trial. The proposed testimony of the other witness related to a matter remotely material, as tending to show the appellant’s state of mind at a particular time, but there was nothing to show that the fact could not be proven by other witnesses, and the history of the transaction of which this was a comparatively unimportant part was given by other testimony upon the trial.

■ A more serious question arises upon exceptions to [807] instructions given and refused, and this requires a brief statement of the facts. The appellant is a resident of Caney, and was sixty-three years old at the time of the homicide. In a joint venture with his nephew, he had purchased in the spring of 1910 an oil lease upon lands in Oklahoma, near Caney, belonging to an Indian owner who was a minor at the time, but upon whom the rights of majority had been conferred by an Oklahoma court. The Indian agreed to make other papers, if necessary, when he became of age. Previous to this lease — which was made to one Overfield, and assigned to the Trusketts — another lease had been made by a guardian to the Lenox Oil & Gas Company, which by its terms expired on September 24, 1910. The Indian owner became of age on September 26, 1910. There was testimony tending to show that some time in April, 1910, a person in the employment of the Wichita Natural Gas Company induced the Indian owner to leave his home in Oklahoma and go with him on a roving trip through several states, stopping for brief periods in various cities, visiting places of resort and amusement; that they returned to Oklahoma on September 25, and the Indian owner conveyed the land by warranty deed to another person, for the use of the gas company, on the next day, being then of full age. In the meantime, about September 15, the guardian of the Indian had made another lease to one Closser, for the benefit of the Wichita Natural Gas Company, without consideration, to enable that company to keep possession until a suit could be filed. The appellant was advised by his attorney that the statute allowing the rights of majority to be conferred by the court did not apply to Indian allotments, and he became anxious about his title to the lease. When the original guardian’s lease expired he appeared on the ground to take possession, but found there a large number of men, some of whom were armed, who refused to allow him to take possession, and who, as appellant was informed and believed, were [808] holding possession for the Wichita Natural Gas Company. The appellant commenced an action in an Oklahoma court to restrain the gas company and others from obstructing him in taking possession, and Closser commenced an action in a federal court to restrain appellant from interfering with his possession.

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State v. Truskett, 118 P. 1047, 85 Kan. 804, 1911 Kan. LEXIS 150 (kan 1911).

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