Ward v. State

79 N.W. 725, 58 Neb. 719, 1899 Neb. LEXIS 283
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJune 21, 1899
DocketNo. 10744
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 79 N.W. 725 (Ward v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ward v. State, 79 N.W. 725, 58 Neb. 719, 1899 Neb. LEXIS 283 (Neb. 1899).

Opinion

Harrison, C. J.

An information was filed in the district court of Jef-. ferson county in which the plaintiff in error was charged with an assault upon one Gregg Long with a deadly weapon, “a large knife, sometimes called a dirk knife,” with the intent to kill and murder him.' To this the plaintiff in error pleaded not guilty, and a trial resulted in his conviction and sentence to a term of imprisonment in the penitentiary. In an error proceeding in his behalf to this court two questions are presented, one that the trial court erred in overruling a challenge for cause of one of the jurors, and another that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdict, especially of the intent elemental of the crime charged. In regard to causes for challenge to jurors it is stated in section 468 of the Criminal Code: “The following shall be good causes for challenge'to any person called as a juror on the trial of any indictment: * * That he has formed or expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused; Provided, That if a juror shall state that he has formed, or expressed, an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused, the court shall thereupon proceed to examine, on oath, such juror as to the ground of such opinion; and if it shall appear to have been founded upon reading newspaper statements, communications, comments, or reports, or upon rumor, or hearsay, and not upon conversations with the witnesses of the transactions, or reading reports of their testimony, or hearing them testify, and the juror shall say, on oath, that he feels able notwithstanding such opinion to render an impartial verdict upon the law and the evidence, the eourt, if satisfied that said juror is impartial, and will render such verdict, may, in its discretion, admit such juror as competent to serve in such case.” We do not deem it necessary to quote the [722]*722statements of the juror who was challenged. His examination disclosed that if he had an impression or opinion relative to the subject of the trial, it -was formed from newspaper reports which he had road or from rumors which he had heard repeated or discussed, and of the truth of either the newspaper reports or rumors he had no fixed belief, rather disbelieved or discredited them. If the juror had an opinion it was not unconditional or fixed, but conditional and hypothetical, and, within the doctrine of the decision in the case of Basye v. State, 45 Neb. 261, it was not error to overrule the challenge for cause. (See, also, Murphy v. State, 15 Neb. 383; Curry v. State, 5 Neb. 412.)

It is urged in this connection that the constitution and our laws demand that care be taken that the defendant in a criminal action be given a fair trial. The record herein discloses, we think, a well-sustained careful effort to afford the party charged an impartial hearing, a trial fairly conducted. To a comprehension of the question of intent elemental of the charge against the accused a careful examination of the evidence which bears upon the subject is necessary. The record discloses that Henry Ward, the father of the prisoner", was the owner of a farm on which the latter had resided, for some time prior to the occurrences in which this prosecution had its origin, and further, that the latter had cultivated a portion of the farm and had planted and had grown thereon a crop of corn of which he testified he was entitled to a share. This was done during the crop season of 1898, prior to the time of the act which caused his arrest. In the fall of 1898 the farm was leased to Gregg Long for the year 1899, to be worked by him and one Frank Picha, Long’s brother-in-law. They occupied the farm on or about December 1, 1898, and at some date during that month Henry Ward, who it seems was living with the renter, went to Kentucky and Illinois with the intention of being absent for a considerable and indefinite time. It was of the evidence that he in[723]*723structecl the renter that if his son came to the farm after certain specifically designated property, he was to be allowed to take it, but corn was not named. On this point there was a conflict in the evidence. There was some testimony to the effect that the directions to the renter were inclusive of corn. It also appeared that Henry Ward sold to Prank Picha a team of horses of which his son asserted ownership. On February 2, 1899, the accused, with a team and wagon, went to the farm and drove to a crib in which there was some “snapped corn,” a portion of which he claimed, and took therefrom a wagon load of the corn. Gregg Long testified that he then had a conversation with the plaintiff in error. The testimony of Long on this point is as follows: “I told him that we had no right to let this corn go; that it was in my care. He said, ‘It don’t make no difference,’ he was going to have it. I told him this corn was in my care, and I could not let it go. Mr. Ward holds me responsible for it; and he says, ‘No, he wouldn’t.’ I told him I didn’t want to let it go. He took that load, and when he took that load along I told him not to come back and bother me any more. He said he was going to get that corn, and corn was in the ear in the crib right aside of it, and he said after that he was going to get the shelled corn. I told him, ‘No.’ I told him I wanted him to stay off the place. He said, ‘No,’ and I warned him to stay off the place and not bother us any more.” Two days later, or on February 4, 1899, the accused returned to the farm and proceeded with the team and wagon near to the crib and with the intention to get another load' of com therefrom. The wagon had on “the top box” or the “double” box. He was seen by Long and Picha, who then approached him and stopped near the wagon, Long about the hindmost portion of the rim of one front wheel of the wagon as it stood, and Picha nearer the front end of the wagon, but close to Long. The plaintiff in error was standing in the wagon bed or box near the center, probably a trifle toward the front. Gregg Long testified [724]*724of wliat then occurred as follows: “And I told him we didn’t have no right to let no more of that corn go, and he said he was going to get it; it didn’t make any differencé, he was going to get that corn. After that he changed his subject, and he says, ‘Those cobs there, 1 am going to take them, too.’ I told him, ‘No.’ He said, ‘They are worth .$10’ — he was going to take them and sell them. I told him, ‘No,’ the fuel was all to be mine for boarding the old gentleman; and he said, ‘No,’ he was going to sell them. And from that lie changed his subject, — he said a little more before that, but I can’t remember what it was, — from that he changed his subject, and he says, ‘This black team there is yours, too.’ (It belongs to my brother-in-law.) He says, ‘Yes,’ he says, ‘I am going to take that, too,’ and we said ‘No.’ He says, ‘I am going to take them,’ he says, T am going to take them right along,’ and we both spoke up at the same time that the team belonged to us and you ain’t going to take them. He jumped up and said, ‘God damn you fellows, if you want to fight, I will fix you here.’ He had a dirk knife in his hand.”

Q. What did. he do?

A. He jumped up from the wagon, and with his knife right this way (indicating) in his right hand, aiid made a lunge to stab me, and as he jumped I jumped right out from under him, — I stepped off a few steps pretty lively and looked over my shoulder. As he struck the ground lie made a bow in that shape, and started after me. I broke and run. He was coming right after me. I had a gun by me.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Kern
397 N.W.2d 23 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Ellis
303 N.W.2d 741 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1981)
State v. McDaniels
16 N.W.2d 164 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1944)
Ruzicka v. State
289 N.W. 852 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1940)
Vallas v. State
288 N.W. 818 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1939)
Frazier v. Frazier
267 N.W. 181 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1936)
Garofola v. State
238 N.W. 755 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1931)
Swartz v. State
238 N.W. 312 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1931)
McKenzie v. State
204 N.W. 60 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1925)
Hays v. United States
231 F. 106 (Eighth Circuit, 1916)
Taylor v. State
126 N.W. 752 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1910)
State v. Rodriguez
31 Nev. 342 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
79 N.W. 725, 58 Neb. 719, 1899 Neb. LEXIS 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ward-v-state-neb-1899.