Hinch v. State
Hinch v. State
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Hinch was convicted of perjury at the last term of the Howard Circuit Court, sentenced to receive twenty-five stripes, fined fifty dollars, and disqualified from being a witness, &c., agreeably to the provisions of the 56th section- of the act concerning crimes and punishment:, R. C. p. 299. Various errors are assigned,only two of which, will be now considered, without regard to the order in which they stand.
First. That the indictment does not show what species of larceny was charged against Patrick, upon the trial for which (he perjury is alledged to have been committed by Hinch y or that the .same was a felony, either at common law or by the statute.
(159’)' Second. That it is not sufficiently alledged in the indictment against Hinch, that the facts sworn to, and in which the perjury is charged to have been committed, were material upon the trial between the State and Patrick.
The indictment charges that the perjury was committed upon the trial of issues joined between the State of Missouri and one William Patrick, upon an indictment against said Patrick “ for larceny, and for feloniously marking a hog, and feloniously.
The statute above referred to, R. C. p. 299, sec. 56, provides “ that if any person shall wilfully and corruptly commit perjury, &c., on any trial for felony,” &c., he shall be punished in the manner Hinch has been sentenced to be punished in this case.
In this case the indictment charges that Patrick was on his trial for larceny, &c., and it is insisted that all larcenies are felonies, and various authorities have been cited in support of the position. Wo definition of felony, however, as drawn either from the character of the crime or the punishment inflicted, is sufficiently comprehensive to cover this case. There are statute larcenies that are not made felonies by statute, and which were neither larcenies nor felonies at common law. In this case the indictment against Hinch should have charged or shown that the larceny for which Patrick was tried, was either made felony by statute, or was such as at common law amounted to felony.
On the second point, the words, it then and there became and was material to inquire,” refer plainly and directly to the county and Court at which Patrick was tried, and cannot by any fair construction be made to relate to the time of trial. The (160) authorities are express that it must be charged or shown to have been material “ upon the trial.” For this defect the judgment must be reversed in toto. The first point was examined from a belief that it might be important to declare the law thereon. The other points raised, have no bearing upon the judgment, and are not deemed material.
The Circuit Court erred, therefore, in refusing to arrest the judgment, which is now reversed with Costs.
(a.) In an indictment for perjury, against a party to a suit, it is necessary to show by proper averments, that he was sworn under circumstances which authorized his being sworn as a witness in the cause. (R. S. 1835; title, “ Justices’ Courts, p. 361.)
The State v. Hamilton, 7 Mo. R., p. 300.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.