People v. Burgle
People v. Burgle
Opinion of the Court
Defendant was convicted of an assault with intent to commit murder, alleged to have been committed upon the person of one Sigmund L. Braverman; and he appeals from the judgment, from an order denying a motion for new trial, and also from an order denying his motion in arrest of judgment.
Appellant’s contentions for a reversal are all based upon asserted errors of the court committed in giving and refusing instructions to the jury. The evidence, beyond all doubt, warranted the jury in finding that the appellant assaulted the prosecuting witness with intent to murder him, unless the appellant, at the time of the assault, was insane; and therefore the only rulings of the court in the matter of instructing the jury which are of much significance in the case are those touching the subject of insanity. There are, however, some exceptions to instructions given by the court touching the general nature of an assault with intent to commit murder.
In its general charge to the jury the court correctly and very fully stated the nature of the crime of assault with intent to commit murder, and informed them that the defendant should not be convicted of the crime charged unless, at the time of the assault, he intended to kill the prosecuting witness under such circumstances that if he had killed him the homicide would have been murder; and the court, having described the crime of murder, used the following language: “In defining the crime of murder, which crime the defendant is alleged to have attempted to commit, I have told you that it involves the element of malice aforethought; the word ‘malice' imports a wish to vex, annoy,
The appellant particularly objects to the following language, which constitutes the first part of a sentence: “Now a man comes and pleads that he was insane; we hear everything that he says, consider everything that he does; we observe his conduct on the stand—we don’t check him in stating his testimony, because one of the purposes is to see whether he is a sane man or not.” The latter part of this sentence is as follows: "But if you have concluded or shall conclude that he is a sane man, of course those things drop out of the case, and they form neither a defense nor a palliation against a crime if the crime is proven to have been Committed.” The charge was an oral one, and the first half of the sentence seems to be one of those remarks which a per
There was no error in refusing to give instruction number 1 asked by appellant. It is doubtful whether the instruction upon its face is clearly correct; but the principle involved was, we think, clearly stated in other instructions of the court.
The judgment and order denying a new trial are affirmed.
Temple, J., and Henshaw, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- THE PEOPLE v. ANTHONY BURGLE
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Criminal Law—Assault with Intent to Murder—Malice—Instructions.—Upon the trial oi a charge of assault with intent to commit murder, it seems that section 188 of the Penal Code, describing both express and implied malice, should not be given as an instruction, and the failure to give it when not asked for by the defendant is not prejudicial to him. An instruction that the word “malice,” as involved in the crime charged, “imports” a wish to vex, annoy, or injure another person, or an intent to do a wrongful act, is not erroneous, because not describing implied malice, which is not the equivalent of the actual intent essential to the crime of assault with intent to commit murder. Id.—Insanity—Instructions as to Intent to Murder—Harmless Omission of Defense.—Instructions correctly stating the law upon the subject of intent to commit murder, as applied to a sane man, are not prejudicially erroneous, because omitting to include the defense of insanity, where it appears that the court elsewhere in its charge repeatedly instructed the jury that if the defendant was insane at the time of the assault he was incapable of forming the intent necessary to constitute the crime. Id.— Time of Insanity — Inapt Language in Instruction.—Inapt language in an oral instruction as to the present insanity of the defendant is not ground for reversal, where it appears that the language could not be fairly construed as meaning otherwise than that the appearance of the defendant at the trial might be, considered as a circumstance in determining his sanity at the time of the assault, and the jury were elsewhere instructed that the question of insanity related to his insanity at the time of the assault. Id.—Financial Oppression of Defendant—Question of Sanity—Instruction Construed.—Testimony having been admitted to show that oppression of the defendant by the prosecuting witness in certain financial transactions had tended to drive him to insanity, an instruction to the jury that this testimony was admitted solely upon the question of insanity, which concluded as follows: “But if you have concluded, or shall conclude that he is a sane man, of course those things drop out of the case, and they form neither a defense nor a palliation against a crime, if the crime is proven to have been committed,” did not instruct the jury that if they found the defendant sane, they were to disregard his testimony altogether, but referred only to the testimony as to the financial transactions.