Thompson v. People

Citation125 Ill. 256,17 N.E. 749
PartiesTHOMPSON et al. v. PEOPLE.
Decision Date16 June 1888
CourtSupreme Court of Illinois

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Error to criminal court, Cook county; R. S. WILLIAMSON, Judge.

Donahoe & David, for plaintiffs in error.

George Hunt, Atty. Gen., for the People.

SCHOLFIELD, J.

An indictment was returned by the grand jury of Cook county against John Thompson, E. M. Showles, and Harry Stillman. The indictment contained three counts. The first and third were for burglary and larceny, and the second was for receiving stolen goods. The defendants severally pleaded not guilty. On trial in the criminal court of Cook county, the jury returned the following verdict: We, the jury, find the defendants John Thompson and Harry Stillman guilty of burglary in manner and form as charged in the indictment, and fix their punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of eight years each. We, the jury, also find the defendant E. M. Showles guilty of receiving stolen property in manner and form as charged in the indictment, and fix his punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of two years.’ Motion for new trial was made by the defendants, and allowed as to Stillman, but overruled as to the other defendants. They then moved in arrest of judgment, but the court overruled the motion, and entered judgment upon the verdict.

The judgment as to Showles cannot be sustained. Our statute provides that ‘every person who for his own gain * * * shall buy, receive, or aid in concealing stolen goods, * * * or property obtained by burglary, * * * knowing the same to have been so obtained, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than ten years, or, if such goods or other property or thing does not exceed the value of $15, he shall be fined not exceeding $1,000, and confined in the county jail not exceeding one year.’ [Rev. St. Ill. c. 38, § 239.] It is therefore necessary, in such cases, that the jury shall find the value of the property; otherwise it cannot be known that they have rendered the proper verdict. Tobin v. People, 104 Ill. 565;Sawyer v. People, 3 Gilman, 53.

The question next presented is whether the judgment can be sustained as to Thompson. We are to assume, from this verdict, that these parties were not jointly guilty under either count. Does, then, the fact that they are guilty of distinct offenses, though it may be arising out of substantially the same transaction, nullify each conviction? The joinder of these counts for the purpose of stating in different ways a single offense occurring in the same transaction was allowable, and the indictment could not have been quashed for that reason. Lyons v. People, 68 Ill. 271;Tobin v. People, supra. The offense was several, and one might therefore have been found not guilty, and the other guilty. Baker v. People, 105 Ill. 452. The bill of exceptions before us shows only the instructions given and refused, and the rulings thereon. The presumption, therefore, is that the ruling of the court upon every point of practice not embraced in the motion to arrest, and the rulings upon instructions, was correct. Gill v. People, 42 Ill. 321;Earll v. People, 73 Ill. 329;Holmes v. People, 5 Gilman, 478. There was no plea in abatement; no motion that the parties be tried separately. We must suppose that the evidence sustained the verdict, and that no objection was urged that evidence was admitted which was applicable to the one, but which was not applicable to the other, defendant; for until the contrary be shown it will be...

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9 cases
  • Bartley v. State
    • United States
    • Nebraska Supreme Court
    • 3 Enero 1898
    ... ... People, 69 Ill. 111; Garcia v. Sanders, 35 S.W. 52.) ...          The ... plea in abatement should have been sustained on the ground ... that ... misconduct of the prosecuting attorney in referring, in ... presence of jurors, to attempts at bribery is ground for ... reversal. ( Thompson v. People, 4 Neb. 531.) ...          References ... to error in the conduct of the trial judge in asking ... questions and in making ... ...
  • Meadowcroft v. People
    • United States
    • Illinois Supreme Court
    • 28 Marzo 1896
    ...v. People, 32 Ill. 36;Collins v. People, 39 Ill. 233;Williams v. People, 44 Ill. 478;Tobin v. People, 104 Ill. 565; and Thompson v. People, 125 Ill. 256, 17 N. E. 749,-are relied on as sustaining their doctrine. The claim, as urged, is too broad. The rules of the common law do not require t......
  • Meadowcroft v. People
    • United States
    • Illinois Supreme Court
    • 7 Noviembre 1896
  • Herman v. People
    • United States
    • Illinois Supreme Court
    • 31 Octubre 1889
    ...refused to concede that a count for a misdemeanor can, under no circumstances, be joined with a count for felony. See, also, Thompson v. People, 125 Ill. 256, 17 N. E. Rep. 749. It is urged, however, that the court has, in Lyons v. People, 68 Ill. 275, and Beasley v. People, 89 Ill. 571, de......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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