State v. Wood

Supreme Court of Rhode Island

State v. Wood

14 R.I. 151, 1883 R.I. LEXIS 22

DecidedApril 5, 1883

StatusPublished

This text of 14 R.I. 151 (State v. Wood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

State v. Wood, 14 R.I. 151, 1883 R.I. LEXIS 22 (R.I. 1883).

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Opinion

Pee Cueiam.

This is a complaint under Pub. Stat. R. I. cap. 244, § 22. Said section provides that “ Every person wbo shall abandon his wife or children, leaving them in danger of becoming a public charge, or who shall neglect to provide according to his means for the support of his wife or children . . . shall be imprisoned not less than six months nor more than three years.” The complaint charged that the defendant “ did neglect to provide according to his means for the support of his wife and children.” The defendant before conviction moved to quash the complaint as bad for duplicity, and after conviction moved in arrest of sentence on the same ground. The court *152 below overruled the motions, and the defendant excepted to the rulings for error. The question is, therefore, whether the complaint is bad for duplicity. We think it is not. When a statute makes it a crime to do this, or that, or that, mentioning several cognate matters disjunctively, the complaint or indictment may ordinarily charge them all conjunctively in a single count. 1 Bishop on Criminal Procedure, § 586. A complaint in the usual form for the illegal selling of intoxicating liquors is an illustration of this. The two matters here, though they might be charged separately, are so closely allied that generally both would be committed together by one and the same neglect. And see State v. Colwell, 3 R. I. 284. Exceptions overruled.

Francis B. Pechham, for plaintiff. Christopher M. Lee, for defendant.

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Pee Cueiam.

This is a complaint under Pub. Stat. R. I. cap. 244, § 22. Said section provides that “ Every person wbo shall abandon his wife or children, leaving them in danger of becoming a public charge, or who shall neglect to provide according to his means for the support of his wife or children . . . shall be imprisoned not less than six months nor more than three years.” The complaint charged that the defendant “ did neglect to provide according to his means for the support of his wife and children.” The defendant before conviction moved to quash the complaint as bad for duplicity, and after conviction moved in arrest of sentence on the same ground. The court *152 below overruled the motions, and the defendant excepted to the rulings for error. The question is, therefore, whether the complaint is bad for duplicity. We think it is not. When a statute makes it a crime to do this, or that, or that, mentioning several cognate matters disjunctively, the complaint or indictment may ordinarily charge them all conjunctively in a single count. 1 Bishop on Criminal Procedure, § 586. A complaint in the usual form for the illegal selling of intoxicating liquors is an illustration of this. The two matters here, though they might be charged separately, are so closely allied that generally both would be committed together by one and the same neglect. And see State v. Colwell, 3 R. I. 284. Exceptions overruled.

Francis B. Pechham, for plaintiff. Christopher M. Lee, for defendant.

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Bluebook (online)

14 R.I. 151, 1883 R.I. LEXIS 22, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wood-ri-1883.