Wallace v. State
Wallace v. State
Opinion of the Court
From a conviction under the statute for malicious mischief "the appellant has brought his case to this court for revision.
He was indicted for a violation of article 2344 of the Criminal Code, (Paschal’s Dig., p. 460,) for willfully killing eleven hogs, of the value of $10 each, the property- of Daniel Gandy, with intent to injure the owner thereof. The proof established conclusively the killing, the value of the hogs, and the knowledge of the accused that they were the property of Daniel Gandy. But it is insisted that the court erred in the charges to the jury on the trial, and that
It is also assigned for error in the court the exclusion of the witness William Jennings, by whom the accused proposed to prove that said witness had overheard a conversation between the accused and a nephew of the owner of the property, in which conversation the nephew authorized the accused to kill the hogs. Unless this had been connected, or it was proposed to be coupled with other testimony showing some authority from the uncle to the nephew, we cannot perceive its materiality to the issue. We therefore think he was very properly excluded as a witness.
There are four instructions given to the jury in the charge of the court, the last three of which are excepted to by the counsel for the accused. The first is but the enunciation of the law, almost in the language of the statute. The second- simply declares that, if the accused, knowing the hogs to be the property of Daniel Gandy, killed them intentionally, he killed them willfully, a truism which would not be likely to mislead the mind of any one in arriving at a correct conclusion upon the facts. The third affirms that,
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Henley Wallace v. State
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- In an indictment for malicious mischief, under the 713th article of the Penal Code, it is not necessary to prove malice on the part of the accused. It is enough that the act was willfully done in the language of the statute. (Paschal’s Dig., Art. 2344.) The fact that a third person may have authorized the killing is not admissible evidence, unless the authority can be traced to the^owner of the property. The fact that the accused carried the property to the owner is no defense, the offense being complete by the killing.