State v. Tutt

63 Mo. 595
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedOctober 15, 1876
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 63 Mo. 595 (State v. Tutt) 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. Tutt, 63 Mo. 595 (Mo. 1876).

Opinion

Henry, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court.

At the November term, 1875, of the Cooper Circuit Court, the defendant was indicted' for burglary. The following is a copy of the indictment:

“ The grand jurors for the State of Missouri, summoned from the body of Cooper county, upon their oaths present, that Reuben Tutt, Anthony Porter, and George Bland, on the 6th day of May, 1875,. at the county of Cooper and State of Missouri, did feloniously and burglariously break into and enter a certain dwelling house being then and there the property of one John L. O’Bryan, and in which there was at the time of said breaking and entering, human beings, to-wit, the said John L. O’Bryan and his family, by forcibly breaking, opening and raising a window of said dwelling house, with intent then and there to commit a larceny, by then and there feloniously stealing, taking and carrying away the goods, chattels and personal property and valuable things of the said John L. O’Bryan, to-wit: one gold watch of the value of one hundred and fifty dollars, one pair of boots of the value of seven dollars, two coats of the value of five dollars, and two pairs of pants of the value of three dollars, one gold keystone of the value of thirteen dollars, one seal stone of the value of thirty dollars, and one steel watch-key and ring of the value of ten cents, all of the goods, chattels and personal property and valuable things of the said John L. O’Bryan, then and there being found in said dwelling house, and they, the said .Anthony Porter, Reuben Tutt, and George Bland, did then and there feloniously steal, take and carry, contrary,” etc.

There was a second count in the indictment in all respects similar to the first, except in charging the entry into the house to have been through and by an open window of said dwelling house, and that the defendant committed a larceny therein, by then and [597]*597there stealing, taking, and carrying away the goods therein described (the same goods described in the first count), and that having committed a larceny they did then and there feloniously and burglariously break and get out of said dwelling house by then and there feloniously and burglariously breaking and opening an outer door of said dwelling house.

To this indictment defendant filed his plea of autrefois acquit, on whieh as to the first count in said indictment, and as to the charge of larceny in the second count, the finding was for defendant, and he was as to said first count and the charge of larceny in the seeond count discharged; and afterwards, on the same day, he was tried on the second count for burglary in the second degree, convicted, and his punishment assessed at four years imprisonment in the penitentiary. It appears from the record that there was a motion for a new .trial filed by defendant, which was overruled, but it is not preserved in the bill of exceptions.

The judgment of the court was in accordance with the verdict, and from that judgment defendant has appealed to this court.

The evidence for the State was substantially, that on the 6th of May, 1875, the house of John L. O’Bryan was entered through a window, into the'dining-room, and from the dining-room, through a door into the apartment where O’Bryan and his son were sleeping, and the articles mentioned in the indictment taken and carried away; that the burglars escaped by a. door leading from a hall out of the house. This door was locked at night but found unlocked in the morning. The window of the dining-room was down at night when O’Bryan retired to bed, but was not fastened, and the shutters to the window were open, but in the morning the window was up. O’Bryan was aroused by the burglars and heard their exit at the back door.

The watch whieh was taken was given to one of the witnesses by the defendant, and the ring and watch-key taken were found in possession of defendant, and he admitted to the sheriff, Rogers, when he was arrested in St. Louis, that the steel watch-key was then in his possession, but said he “ he did not care a damn, as [598]*598they couldn’t send [him] to the penitentiary for stealing a watch-key. ”

Another witness testified to having heard a conversation between defendant and Sallie Mason, in which defendant told Sallie Mason that he raised the window and went into the house. Defendant offered no evidence, and thereupon for the State, the court instructed the- jury as follows:

“1st. If the jury believe from the evidence that the defendant, on or about the 6th day of May, 1876, at the county of Cooper, and State of Missouri, entered the dwelling house of one John L. O’Bryan, in which there were at the time human beings, with the intent to commit a larceny by stealing and carrying away the property of the said John L. O’Bryan, then and there being in said house by going through a window in said house, and after being in said house with intent aforesaid, did break and get out of said house by then and there breaking and opening an outer door of said dwelling house, they will find the defendant guilty of burglary in the second degree, and assess his punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a period of not less than three years.”
“2nd. The jury are instructed that the mere unlocking or opening of a door is a breaking, within the meaning of the statute.”
“3rd. If the jury believe that soon after the commission of the 'burglary charged in the second count, any portion of the property taken at the time of the burglary, was found in the possession of the defendant, such possession will be presumptive evidence of defendant’s guilt, and if such possession of said stolen property is not satisfactorily explained by the defendant, it will be conclusive evidence of his guilt, and the jury are further instructed that it devolves upon the defendant to explain such possession.”
‘ ‘4th. The jury are instructed that if from all the evidence in the case they have a reasonable doubt of defendant’s guilt, they will acquit, but such a doubt to authorize an acquittal must be a real and established doubt of defendant’s guilt, and not a mere possibility of his innocence.”

To the first and third of these instructions the defendant objected and saved his exceptions.

[599]*599The defendant asked the following, which were refused, and saved his exceptions to the refusal to give them.

We state their substance only. The first was to the effect that if defendant broke into and entered the dwelling house by raising a window of said house, the jury should acquit. The second was in substance that in order to convict defendant the jury must find that he broke into and entered the house in some other manner than by forcibly bursting or breaking the wall or outer door, window or shutter of a window of the house, or the bolt or lock of such door, or the fastening of such window or shutter. . The third was that if defendant broke and entered into said house, either by forcibly bursting or breaking the wall or outer door, window or shutter of a window of said house or the lock or bolt of such door, or the fastening of such window-shutter, the defendant was guilty of burglary in the first degree, and should be acquitted. The fourth was that if defendant broke into and entered the dwelling-house by forcibly bursting or breaking a window, then the jury should acquit him.

Wagn.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 Mo. 595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tutt-mo-1876.