State v. Stewart

Supreme Court of Missouri
State v. Stewart, 29 Mo. 419 (Mo. 1860)
Napton

State v. Stewart

Opinion of the Court

Napton, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The indictment in this case is deemed sufficient under the thirty-eighth section of chapter fifty of the act concerning crimes and punishments.

We are not satisfied, however, that the instructions presented the law in such a shape to the jury as to enable them to understand their duty. None of the instructions, which are given, made any exceptions in favor of justifiable assaults; and this omission may have been right enough and produced no harm, if, in truth, there was no evidence in the case which rendered it necessary to present such a hypothesis to the jury.

*421But the instruction in reference to the intent of the defendant was calculated to mislead. The intent of the defendant in making the assault was a question of fact for the jury. The law raises no presumption about it, and it was error for the court to tell the jury that “ the law presumes that every man intends the natural, necessary, and probable consequence of his acts.”

With the concurrence. of the other judges, the judgment is reversed, and cause remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name
The State v. Stewart
Cited By
8 cases
Status
Published