Andersen v. United States
Decision Date | 09 May 1898 |
Docket Number | No. 583,583 |
Parties | ANDERSEN v. UNITED STATES |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Andersen was indicted in the circuit court of the United States for the Eastern district of Virginia for the murder of William Wallace Saunders on an American vessel on the high seas, of which vessel Saunders was the mate, and Andersen the cook.
The indictment charged that Andersen, 'on the 6th day of August, in the year of our Lord 1897, with force and arms, on the high seas, and within the jurisdiction of this court, and within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the said United States of America, and out of the jurisdiction of any particular state of the said United States of America, in and on board of a certain American vessel, the same being then and there a schooner called and named Olive Pecker, then and there belonging to a citizen or citizens of the said United States of America, whose name or names is or are to the grand jurors aforesaid unknown, in and upon one William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, then and there being on board said vessel, did piratically, willfully, feloniously, and of his malice aforethought make an assault, and that the said John Andersen, alias John Anderson, a certain pistol then and there charged with gunpowder and leaden bullets, which said pistol he, the said John Andersen, alias John Anderson, in his hand (but which hand is to the said jurors unknown) then and there had and held, then and there piratically, feloniously, willfully, and of his malice aforethought did discharge and shoot off to, against, and upon the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, with intent him, the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, then and there to kill and murder, and that the said John Andersen, alias John Anderson, with the leaden bullets aforesaid out of the pistol by the said John Andersen, alias John Anderson, discharged and shot off as aforesaid, then, to wit, on the said 6th day of August, in the year of our Lord 1897, and there, to wit, on the high seas as aforesaid, in and on board of the said American vessel, and within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the said United States of America, and within the jurisdiction of this court, and out of the jurisdiction of any particular state of the United States of America, piratically, feloniously, willfully, and of his malice afoe thought did strike, penetrate, and wound the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, in and upon the head of him, the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders (and in and upon other parts of the body of him, the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders to the said jurors unknown), giving to him, the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, then and there, with the leaden bullets aforesaid, so as aforesaid discharged and shot off out of the pistol aforesaid by the said John Andersen, alias John Anderson, with the intent aforesaid, in and upon the head of him, the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders (and in and upon other parts of the body of him, the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, to the said jurors unknown), several grievous, dangerous, and mortal wounds; and the said John Andersen, alias John Anderson, did then and there, to wit, at the time and place last above mentioned, him, the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, piratically, feloniously, willfully, and of his malice aforethought cast and throw from and out of the said vessel into the sea, and plunge, sink, and drown him, the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, in the sea aforesaid, of which said mortal wounds, casting, throwing, plunging, sinking, and drowning the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, in and upon the high seas aforesaid, out of the jurisdiction of any particular state of the United States of America, then and there instantly died.
'And the grand jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do say that by reason of the casting and throwing of the said William Wallace Saunders, sometimes called William Saunders, in the sea as aforesaid, they cannot describe the said mortal wounds with greater particularity.'
The case coming on before Goff, circuit judge, and Hughes, district judge, defendant
Defendant was duly and formally arraigned, and pleaded not guilty, and then 'moved to quash the writ of venire facias for the petit jury to be used in the trial of this particular case, on the ground that the said writ must show that said venire were summoned for the trial of this particular case, and not the general venire for offenses in general to be tried at this term of the circuit court of the United States for the Eastern district of Virginia.' This motion was overruled, and defendant excepted.
A jury was thereupon duly impaneled and sworn, and the trial proceeded with, and during its progress exceptions to the admission and exclusion of evidence and the giving and refusal of instructions were preserved by defendant. At the close of the government's case in chief, defendant's counsel moved the court to instruct the jury to bring in a verdict of not guilty, on the ground that defendant was indicted for the murder of Saunders by drowning, whereas the evidence showed that he met his death by the discharge of a pistol. The court overruled the motion, and defendant excepted. A verdict of guilty having been returned, defendant made successive motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment, which were severally overruled, whereupon he was sentenced to be executed. Ths writ of error was then sued out, the cause docketed, and duly argued at the bar.
The bill of exceptions contained the following preliminary statement of uncontroverted facts:
'At the direction of the government at Washington, the American consul at Bahia kept the accused and the five men in custody at Bahia until the arrival at that port some time in the month of September, 1897, of the United States man-of-war Lancaster, when they were put on board of that vessel, and brought into Hampton Roads, Virginia, in the Eastern district of Virginia, that being the first district into which the accused was brough after the commission of the alleged offense; and the said accused, together with the five men, was turned over by the officers of the Lancaster to the United States marshal on the 7th day of November, 1897,...
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