Brenan v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2954.
| Decision Date | 23 April 1945 |
| Docket Number | Record No. 2954. |
| Citation | 183 Va. 846 |
| Parties | WILLIAM GREGGS BRENAN v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA. |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
1. INSANITY — Criminal Responsibility — Question for Jury — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, a prosecution for robbery, the victim, a taxicab driver, testified that accused, while a passenger, ordered him to hand over his money, and when accused was arrested, the money was found on his person. After the robbery, and prior to his arrest, accused approached two women seated in a parked automobile, was frightened away by the screams of one, but returned to the scene and told a witness that he was the person who had attempted to hold up the women. It wa shown that accused had been in naval service in Sicily and as a result of his service had become highly nervous and it was also shown that he had previously been in a serious automobile accident, and the theory of the defense was that accused was temporarily insane at the time of the robbery. The court instructed the jury that if they believed from the evidence that at the time accused took the money he was insane and did not, by reason of his insanity, know what he was doing, they should find him not guilty.
Held: That this instruction clearly left the question to the jury and it was one entirely within their province, since it could not be said as a matter of law, from the evidence in the case, that accused was insane at the time he committed the robbery.
2. DRUNKENNESS — As Defense to Criminal Liability — Insufficient Evidence to Support Instruction — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, a prosecution for robbery, the victim, a taxicab driver, testified that accused, while a passenger, ordered him to hand over his money, and when accused was arrested, the money was found on his person. Approximately two hours before the robbery accused had with him nearly four quarts of whiskey, and the theory of the defense was that accused was too drunk to entertain the specific intent to commit robbery. One of the arresting officers testified that accused had been drinking but that he was not drunk, and accused did not take the stand. The trial court refused to give to the jury an instruction on the question whether accused was too drunk to entertain the specific intent to commit robbery, upon the ground that there was no evidence to support this instruction.
Held: No error.
3. DRUNKENNESS — As Defense to Criminal Liability. — Voluntary drunkenness is no excuse for crime.
Error to a judgment of the Corporation Court of the city of Norfolk, Part Two. Hon. James U. Goode, judge presiding.
The opinion states the case.
Herman A. Sacks, for the plaintiff in error.
Abram P. Staples, Attorney General, and M. Ray Doubles, Assistant Attorney General, for the Commonwealth.
The petitioner, William Greggs Brenan, was convicted upon a charge of robbery, and sentenced to five years in the penitentiary. The facts are not in dispute, and are substantially as follows: The accused, a young man twenty-two years of age, left his home between 6:30 and 7:00 o'clock on the evening of July 22, 1944, taking with him $100 in cash and a check for $207, payable to himself and made by his mother. Later he met Mr. Ford, and they were together for several hours, during which time they drank some beer. They separated at Tegg's Barbecue about 10 o'clock P.M. At this time the accused had with him nearly four quarts of whiskey.
At approximately 12 o'clock that night one A. G. Kinsey, the victim of the robbery, was driving a taxicab on the Sewells Point Road in Norfolk, about two blocks west of Granby Street, close by Tegg's Barbecue. The accused was walking on the Sewells Point road, and he stopped Kinsey and requested that the latter drive him to his home at No. 815 Holt Street. He thereupon boarded the taxicab and when they arrived at the intersection of Granby street and Sewells Point road, where the cab was stopped on account of a red traffic light, the accused put his right hand inside of his coat and stuck it in Kinsey's right side and at the same time said that it was a "stickup". He then told Kinsey to drive straight ahead which Kinsey did for some little distance, when he was told by the accused to pull to the curb and was ordered to hand over his money. Kinsey handed the accused the money, which was refused, but the accused ordered Kinsey to lay the money on the dash board, whereupon the accused took the money, amounting to $16.25, from the dash board.
Kinsey reported the occurrence to the Norfolk Police Department and in a short time police officers were on the scene, and they arrested the accused. When he was searched the $16.25 in money was found...
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