Carnley v. State
| Decision Date | 18 October 1924 |
| Citation | 88 Fla. 281,102 So. 333 |
| Parties | CARNLEY v. STATE. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied Nov. 3, 1924.
Error to Court of Record, Escambia County; C. Moreno Jones, Judge.
Ed Carnley was convicted of assault and battery, and he brings error.
Affirmed.
Syllabus by the Court
Indictment for affray is in effect merely for the several included assaults and batteries. It has been repeatedly held that an affray by fighting, as defined by the common law, and by statutes which substantially follow and denounce the common-law offense, necessarily includes assault and battery and that an indictment for the former offense is in effect merely for the several assaults and batteries.
An affray and an assault and battery may be charged in one count. On the ground of clear, concise pleading, we think that the affray and the assault and battery should have been at least charged in separate counts, but we have no rule or statute requiring that an indictment or information shall charge but one offense, or words of like import.
COUNSEL Leroy V. Holsberry and L. V. Trueman, both of Pensacola, for plaintiff in error.
Rivers Buford, Atty. Gen., and Marvin C. McIntosh, Asst. Atty. Gen for the State.
A. L Harwell and Ed Carnley were informed against in the court of record of Escambia county. Omitting the formal parts, the information is as follows:
'Be it remembered that William Fisher, county solicitor for the county of Escambia, prosecuting for the state of Florida, in said county, under oath information makes that A. L. Harwell and Ed Carnley, late of the county of Escambia, in the state aforesaid, on the twenty-first day of August in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three at and in the county of Escambia aforesaid, did then and there in a certain public place, to wit, certain road used by members of the public, to the terror of many and divers people there lawfully being, make an affray by then and there fighting together, and therein each did then and there make an assault on and beat, bruise, wound, and ill-treat the other, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state of Florida.'
Motion to quash the information was denied, a trial was had, and A. L. Harwell was acquitted, while Ed Carnley was found guilty of assault and battery, and sentenced to pay a fine of $100 and cost, or in default thereof to be imprisoned at hard labor in the county jail for three months. Writ of error was taken from this judgment.
The first assignment of error charges that Harwell and Carnley cannot be charged with the commission of an affray and an assault and battery in the same information.
The common law defined an affray as the fighting of two or more persons in a public place, to the terror of the people. Our statute merely prescribes the punishment for, and does not attempt to define, an affray; so we must resort to the common-law definition.
Is assault and battery then embraced within an affray? It has been repeatedly held that an affray by fighting, as defined by the common law and by statutes which substantially follow and denounce the common-law offense, necessarily includes assault and battery, and that an indictment for the former offense is in effect merely for the several assaults and batteries. Thompson v. State, 70 Ala. 26; State v. Brewer, 33 Ark. 176; State v. Baker, 83 N C. 649; State v. Brown, 82 N.C. 585; 2 C.J. 389; 8 R. C. L. 342; 2...
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Hickman v. State Of Md.
...Although an indictment charging a common law affray is, in effect, also one for several assaults and batteries, Carnley v. State, 88 Fla. 281, 102 So. 333, 334 (1924), there are significant differences between the offenses that make clear that an affray is a separate and distinct offense fr......
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Travis v. Sec'y
...that make clear that an affray is a separate and distinct offense from common law assault and battery.") (citing Carnley v. State, 102 So. 333, 334 ( Fla. 1924)). Therefore, while the state may have had the right to charge Petitioner with an affray, it chose not to do so. The prosecutor, no......
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Hickman v. State, No. 882 September Term, 2009 (Md. App. 6/3/2010)
...battery. Although an indictment charging a common law affray is, in effect, also one for several assaults and batteries, Carnley v. State, 102 So. 333, 334 (Fla. 1924), there are significant differences between the offenses that make clear that an affray is a separate and distinct offense f......
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Adams v. Murphy, 57451
...crime of perjury. In such circumstances, it is appropriate to look to the common law for the definition of the crime. Carnley v. State, 88 Fla. 281, 102 So. 333 (1924). In the decisional law of Florida, perjury is defined as the willful giving of false testimony under lawful oath on a mater......