Rivette v. State
Rivette v. State
Opinion of the Court
The evidence in this case is for all practicable purposes the same as in the case of Dean v. State, ante, p. 466. They were argued together in this court and present identical assignments of error, except that in
Instruction No. 14 given by the trial court in the case at bar is as follows: “The court further instructs the jury that where three persons determined to resist arrest in case an attempt to arrest them is made, and said persons deliberately supplied themselves with arms and weapons for the purpose of killing any one who might be attempting to arrest, and in an encounter which followed an attempt to arrest the persons a third person was killed, all three of said persons are guilty of murder in the first degree, providing that you find beyond a reasonable doubt that said killing was done purposely, deliberately and of their premeditated malice.”
It will be noted from this instruction that the jury were not told in concise language that the killing must have been committed by one of the three persons engaged in the unlawful act. The words “by one of them” used in the Dean case were apparently omitted by inadvertence. The defendant contends that this is prejudicial error. The first and second instructions set out in Dean v. State, ante, p. 466, were given in the identical language in the case at bar. In instruction No. 13 the jury were positively instructed that the killing must have been done by Dean, Rivette or Wray. The case was tried on that theory. The instruction in question, No. 14, is not as definite as it should be. It does, however, contain the following statements: “Where three persons determined to resist arrest * * * and said persons deliberately supplied themselves with arms * * * all three of said persons are guilty * * * providing * * * said killing was done purposely, deliberately and of their premeditated malice.” (Italics ours.) A careful consideration of the instruction will show that the jury were instructed that they must find that the killing was done by one of the three persons. The instruction does not contradict any of the other instructions properly given. This court has held that, where a single
All other errors alleged in this case are identical with those considered in Dean v. State, ante, p. 466, and for the reasons set out in the opinion • in that case, we hold that they were without prejudice to the defendant.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.