State v. Spigener
State v. Spigener
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The appellees were indicted under Code 1906, § 1044, which is in the following words:
“1044 (968). The Same; With Gowhicle, Whip> etc. — If any person assault and beat another with a cowhide, whip, or •stick, having at the time in his possession a pistol, or other •deadly weapon, with intent to intimidate the person assaulted, •and prevent him from defending himself, he shall, on conviction, be imprisoned in the penitentiary not longer than ten years.”
The indictment, in the first count, omitting the formal part, is as follows:
“That Jeff Spigener, S. J. Spigener, Walter Denham, and Bud Holland, late of the county aforesaid, on the 8th day of March, A. D. 1909, with force and arms, in the county aforesaid, and'within the jurisdiction of this court, being then and there armed with a deadly weapon, a pistol, did then and there wilfully and feloniously assault and beat John Ooekran with leather bridle reins, with the intent of them, the said Jeff Spigener, S. J. Spigener, Walter Denham, and Bud Holland, then and there wilfully and feloniously to intimidate the said John Ooekran and prevent him-from defending himself, against the peace,” etc.
It will be observed that the statute provides, “If any person ■shall assault and beat another with a cowhide, whip, or stick,” etc.; and it will be further observed that the indictment does not charge the beating to have been with any one of these things,
It will be observed that this statute does not provide, as some-statutes of this sort do, that the assault' shall be with cowhide, whip, stick, or- other like thing. We find in the case of State v. Taylor, 50 Or. 449, 93 Pac. 252, an opinion which presents the precise point for decision here involved. The statute there provided, “If any person shall assault another with cowhide, whip, stick, or like thing,” etc., and the indictment, charged that the assault and beating were with a “leather strap-,”' and upon the indictment the court said: ■
*602 “The sufficiency of the indictment is also- questioned by the defendants, in that it does not charge the crime for which they were tried. In the statute of 1864 the name of this crime-is given in the index to the sections at the beginning of chapter 43, of which it is a part, and also on the margin opposite section 527, its original number, as 'assault, being armed with a cowhide,’ and was so- adopted by the legislature, and the name-of the crime thus became part of the law (State v. Vowels, 4 Or. 324; State v. Nease, 46 Or. 433, 80 Pac. 897), and 'assault, being armed with a strap,’ does not name the crime defined by this section. However, an error in the name of the crime in the preliminary part of the information is not fatal, if the charging part is sufficiently specific. State v. Sweet, 2 Or. 127; State v. Jarvis, 18 Or. 360, 23 Pac. 251. But the-charge is, 'did assault, strike, hit, and beat one Exilda Mitchell * * * with said leather strap.’ The- allegation contains nothing to-bring the strap within the class of instruments mentioned under 'cowhide, whip, stick, or like thing.’ In Alabama, under a-similar statute [B-ev. Code 1867, § 3672], providing that an assault with a cowhide, stick, or whip, having in his possession
It follows that the judgment sustaining the demurrer is reversed, the demurrer is overruled, the case remanded, and the ■defendants will be held to answer for assault and battery simply.
Reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State of Mississippi v. Jefferson Spigener
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Ceimihai Law awd Peoceduee. Assault 'and battery. Cowhide, etc. Code 1906, § 1044. Indictment. Simple assault and battery. An indictment charging that defendant assaulted and heat another with “leather bridle reins,” while armed with a pistol, with intent to intimidate the party assaulted and heat and prevent him from defending himself:— ¡(a) Is not good as one for the offense defined by Code 1906, § 1044, making it a felony for a person to assault and heat another, under the circumstances charged, with a “cowhide, whip or stick;” hut (5) Is good as one for simple assault and battery, and a demurrer thereto should he overruled.