Milstead v. State
Milstead v. State
Opinion of the Court
As charged in the indictment, the offense is, “that Joe Milstead, on the 10th day of December, A. D. 1883, in the county of Shelby and State of Texas, did then and there assault, strike, beat and bruise T. A. Paxton, in a court of justice then and there being in session, and the said T. A. Paxton being then and there an officer, to wit, a justice of the peace; against the peace and dignity of the State.”
A motion to quash was made upon the ground that the indictment does not charge a criminal intent by the defendant to injure the party charged to have been assaulted, and is, therefore, wholly insufficient in law. This motion was properly overruled by the court. An “intent to injure” or “unlawful violence” need not be alleged; especially when the transaction as set out imports illegality. (State v. Lutterloh, 22 Texas, 210; Evans v. The State, 25 Texas Supp., 303; State v. Allen, 30 Texas, 59; State v. Hays, 41 Texas, 526; State v. Hartman, 41 Texas, 562; Roberson v. The State, 15 Texas Ct. App., 317.)
The indictment was also good for an aggravated assault, because it alleges the assault was “ committed in a court of justice,” which is made expressly by statute one of the circumstances which will aggravate the character of an assault. (Penal Code, art. 496, subd. 2; Willson’s Forms, 347, p. 157; State v. Hunter, 44 Texas, 94.)
That we may properly understand and meet this position, a brief resumé of the facts of the case becomes necessary. Paxton, the assaulted party, was the legally elected and qualified justice of the peace in and for precinct Ho. 7 of Shelby county. His regular place for holding his terms of court was in and about Sapp’s store, which, we presume, was a most convenient as well as suitable place for his business. Por the store-house was a building about fifty-eight feet long, with a gallery in front, and was divided into two compartments or rooms, the front one of which was some thirty feet long and occupied as a dry goods store, and the rear or back room was about eighteen feet long, and was run as a drinking saloon or grocery. During the Christmas holidays of 1883, to wit, on the 28th day of December, a regular term of said justice’s court was being held by Paxton, out in the open air and “about eight or ten yards directly in the rear of the northwest corner of the store building.” This improvised open air sanctuary of justice consisted of a dry goods box, upon which the books and papers of the court were conveniently placed during its sessions.
Thus it will be seen that the assault made by defendant upon said justice was not, as charged and alleged in the indictment, made “in a court of justice then and there being in session.”
Appellant having ineffectually objected to the evidence, when introduced, of an assault other than such as was alleged, formulated a special instruction upon the point, in these words, viz.: “ The defendant asks the court to charge the jury that before they can convict the defendant they must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the assault, if any, was committed on T. A. Paxton in a court of justice as charged in the bill of indictment.” This the court refused to give, but, on the contrary, in the charge given used the following language, viz.: “ If you believe from the evidence
The rule is well settled that upon a charge of aggravated assault the accused may be found guilty and punished for a simple assault. That appellant, under the facts stated, was guilty of a simple assault cannot be questioned; that he is not guilty of an aggravated assault,— the assault not having been committed in a court of justice,— we think equally clear. Because it was not committed whilst the court was in actual session does not, we think, under the allegations, preclude the State from proving that an assault was in fact committed by the accused at the time and place and upon the party as alleged. The failure to show that it was committed in a court of justice could only affect the grade and not the fact of the crime.
“Any unlawful violence upon the person of another, with intent to injure him, whatever be the means or the degree of violence used, is an assault and battery.” The crime denounced is “an assault and-battery.” (Penal Code, art. 484.) An assault and battery becomes aggravated when committed under the circumstances enumerated in the Code, one of which is “ when committed in a court of justice.” (Penal Code, art. 496, subdivis. 2.) The rule is that when any one of the circumstances mentioned in the Code is charged in order to make the offense an aggravated assault, no one or other of the circumstances enumerated but not charged can be established to prove the one alleged. But, under a charge of most of the aggravating circumstances named, a party may be found guilty of a simple assault and battery,— that being the real offense,— which is aggravated alone by the manner of its commission.
We have found no error in the proceedings had on the trial in the court below, and the judgment of conviction, being sustained both by the law and the evidence, is affirmed.
Affirmed.
[Opinion delivered December 2, 1885.]
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.