Buck v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 12 November 1914
• Parties: BUCK. v. COMMONWEALTH.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

83 S.E. 390

116 Va. 1031

BUCK.

v.COMMONWEALTH.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Nov. 12, 1914.

1. Criminal Law (§ 752*)—Testimony of Accused — Weight — Demurrer to Evidence.

Where accused testified in his own behalf and his evidence was not contradicted nor in conflict with any other evidence, he was entitled to have it accepted as true on a demurrer to the evidence.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Criminal Law, Cent. Dig. §§ 1725, 1726; Dec. Dig. § 752.*]

2. Escape (§ 7*)—Persons Liable—"Accessory after the Fact."

One cannot be convicted as an "accessory after the fact" in an escape, unless what he did was done by way of persoual help to his principal, with a view to enabling him to elude punishment.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Escape, Cent. Dig. § 8; Dec. Dig. § 7.*]

For other definitions, see Words and Phrases, First and Second Series, Accessory after the Fact.]

3. Escape (§ 10*)—Accessory—Evidence.

In a prosecution for aiding another to escape from justice after committing a crime, evidence held insufficient to justify a conviction.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Escape, Cent. Dig. §§ 17, 18; Dec. Dig. § 10.*]

*For other cases see same topic and section NUMBER in Dec. Dig. & Am. Dig. Key-No. Series & Rep'r Indexes Error to Circuit Court, Craig County.

B. W. Buck was convicted of aiding in the escape of one Harvey D. Looney, and he brings error. Reversed.

W. E. Allen, of Covington, and John L. Lee, of Lynchburg, for plaintiff in error.

The Attorney General, for the Commonwealth.

CARDWELL, J. Harvey D. Looney, on the night of June 16, 1912, shot and fatally wounded one Oscar M. Martin, in the town of New Castle, Craig county, and by flight temporarily escaped arrest for his crime. On the following day a justice of the peace of Craig county, upon complaint made to him, issued his warrant for the arrest of B. W. Buck, charging that Buck had "received, harbored, maintained and concealed the said Harvey D. Looney, and that he, the said B. W. Buck, has assisted the said Harvey D. Looney in escaping and evading arrest for the said felony committed by him." Buck was arrested and brought before the justice on the date of the warrant, but the case was continued from time to time until August 30, 1912, when a trial was had and judgment rendered against the accused that he be confined in the jail of Craig county for a term of six months and pay to the commonwealth of Virginia a fine of $300, from which judgment Buck appealed to the circuit court of Craig county, and upon a trial of the cause before a jury in the circuit court, on November 14, 1912, Buck was found guilty and his punishment ascertained to be a fine of $450 and confinement in the county jail for 10 months, upon which verdict the circuit court entered judgment, and to which judgment a writ of error was awarded to the defendant by this court.

The only assignment of error requiring consideration relates to the action of the trial court in overruling plaintiff in error's motion to set aside the verdict of the jury as contrary to the law and the evidence and in entering judgment thereon.

The only evidence relating to the alleged connection of plaintiff in error with the temporary escape of Looney after the latter had, about 11 o'cloek on the night of June 16, 1912, fatally shot and wounded Oscar M. Martin, the town sergeant of New Castle, consists exclusively of plaintiff in error's own evidence given upon his trial in the circuit court, his own statements made the morning after the shooting as related by Wiley Martin, a brother of Oscar Martin, who had died during the night, and G. W. Layman, witnesses for the commonwealth, and the evidence of Lee Looney, the brother, and Henry Looney, the father, of Harvey Looney, also witnesses for the commonwealth, the two latter testifying as to what transpired when plaintiff in error and Harvey Looney arrived at the home of the father about an hour after the shooting of Oscar Martin,

It appears that Harvey Looney was in the town of New Castle, drunk and very disorderly, on the afternoon and evening that he shot Martin, who made an effort to arrest him; that plaintiff in error resided at New Castle, and had been acquainted with Looney for about four years, and had seen him at New Castle several times in the afternoon preceding the night of the shooting. During that afternoon on more than one occasion Looney had cursed and abused plaintiff in error very violently, as he had done others in his drunken frenzy. That evening plaintiff in error, as was his custom, went to Craig City, only a few minutes walk from New Castle, to look after some horses which he kept there, and the substance of the statements made by him upon his trial in the circuit court is as follows: He turned out three of his horses in a little field to graze, and left two in the stable. A little later, because of a threatening storm, he tried to catch one of the horses, a sick one, which he had turned out, but failed. While so engaged and when near a Mr. Caldwell's house, he heard five shots fired. Failing to catch the horse and a storm coming up, he started back to New Castle. When "between the bridges" he met Harvey Looney "running very fast" He hailed him, saying, "Who is that?" and Looney replied, "Is that you, Ben?" Upon being answered "Yes, " Looney said, "Don't you move. I have got you covered and my finger on the trigger." Looney then passed him a few feet, whirled, put a pistol at his breast, and demanded that he get him (Looney) a horse, saying he was in trouble, and that if he (Buck) did not get him a horse, he would kill him; that although he (Buck) had two horses in the stable, he told Looney he had none, that they were turned out. Looney then demanded, with a threat to kill if disobeyed, that he (Buck) catch one for him; that he (Buck) got a bridle out of the cornerib and pretended to try to catch one of the horses, but struck him on the nose so that he whirled and ran away, whereupon Looney cursed him, saying that he had not tried to catch the horse, and then, with violent threats and a pistol still in hand, said that he could get a horse at home, and that he (Buck) had to go with him or he would kill him, for if he left him behind he would tell on him (Looney); that he (Buck) tried to beg off, but was compelled to go, and on the way to the home of Looney's father he demanded that he (Buck) give up his pistol, which he did; that Looney told plaintiff in error that he had shot Oscar Martin, and when the Looney home, about 1 1/2 miles from New Castle, was reached, Looney awoke his brother, Lee Looney, told him he was in trouble, and demanded a horse upon which to get away. Lee Looney got up, caught, bridled, and saddled a horse which Harvey Looney, after providing himself with food and some money gotten from his mother, mounted and rodeaway. This was at a late hour, about midnight or after, and plaintiff in error spent the remainder of the night at the Looney house, returning to New Castle...