Sutton v. State
Sutton v. State
Opinion of the Court
By the Court,
The indictment is drawn upon the-28t,h section of the act of assembly of 1835, providing for the punishment of crimes, 33 O. L. 39, which enacts, “ that if any person shall counterfeit any of the coins of gold, silver, or c'opper, currently passing in this state; or shall utter or put off counterfeit coin or coins, knowing them to be such; or shall make any instrument for counterfeiting any of the coins aforesaid, knowing the purpose for which such instrument was made ; or shall knowingly have in his possession and secretly keep any instrument for the purpose of counterfeiting any of the coin aforesaid, every person so offending shall,” etc. The first-count of this indictment charges, that the defendants did knowingly and willfully have in their possession and secretly keep, on bogus, one press, one pressing machine, one stamping machine, one set of dies, etc., the same then and there being instruments for the purpose of counterfeiting certain coins of silver called Mexican dollars, the said coins then being coins of silver currently passing in the said state of Ohio, contrary to the statute, etc. The third and fourth counts are substantially like the first. We can discover no lack of power in thes legislature to punish this offence,
3. Did the court err in refusing to limit the evidence for the prose■cution to the three first counts in the indictment ? It is difficult to perceive any good reason for so limiting the testimony, and none is •shown us. The two last counts were for distinct offences of the same grade and punishment, and were well joined. But the defendants ■could not object, because they were acquitted on those counts, and were not prejudiced hy the evidence.
4. Is the indictment defective for want of an averment that the defendants knew for what purpose the instruments were adapted, or kept? The draftsman of this indictment has followed the precise language of the statute, which as a general rule is sufficient. There may be exceptions to this general rule, hut if so, the case before us is not one of them. In the first and second counts there is an averment that the defendants knowingly and willfully, had the instruments in possession, and secretly kept them. In the third count, it is averred, that the defendants secretly kept the instruments, knowing the purpose they were intended for. If either count is good, there is enough to sustain the sentence. Admitting that in this class of cases, guilty 'knowledge is the essence of the crime, is it not sufficiently averred? “The adverb implying knowledge, is expressed in one part of the sen
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Elisha Sutton and Others v. State
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published