Charles Thomas v. State of Iowa

• Decision Date: 23 March 1908
• Docket Number: No. 533,533
• Citation: 52 L.Ed. 782,28 S.Ct. 487,209 U.S. 258
• Parties: CHARLES THOMAS, Plff. in Err., v. STATE OF IOWA
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

209 U.S. 258

28 S.Ct. 487

52 L.Ed. 782

CHARLES THOMAS, Plff. in Err.,

v STATE OF IOWA.

No. 533.

Argued February 26, 1908.

Decided March 23, 1908.

Messrs. Chester C. Cole and John T. Mulvaney for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 259 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Charles W. Lyon, H. W. Byers, and E. B. Evans for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 260 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Moody delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a writ of error by which it is sought to re-examine a judgment of the supreme court of the state of Iowa. The judgment affirms the conviction of the plaintiff in error of the crime of murder in the first degree. The Code of Iowa contains the following provisions:

'4727. Whoever kills any human being with malice aforethought, either express or implied, is guilty of murder.

'4728. All murder which is perpetrated by means of poison, or lying in wait, or any other kind of wilful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which is committed in the perpetration or attempt to perpetrate any arson, rape, robbery, mayhem, or burglary, is murder in the first degree, and shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life at hard labor in the penitentiary, as determined by the jury, or by the court, if the defendant pleads guilty.

'4729. Whoever commits murder otherwise than as set forth in the preceding section is guilty of murder of the second degree, and shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for life, or for a term of not less than ten years.

'4730. Upon the trial of an indictment for murder, the jury, if it finds the defendant guilty, must, inquire, and by its verdict ascertain and determine, the degree; but if the defendant is convicted upon a plea of guilty, the court must, by the examination of witnesses, determine the degree, and in either case must enter judgment and pass sentence accordingly.' Code of Iowa, 1897, title 24, chap. 2, §§ 4727-4730.

The count of the indictment upon which the verdict was returned alleged that the accused deliberately, premeditatedly, and with malice aforethought, murdered one Mabel Schofield by administering poison to her. The judge presiding at the trial instructed the jury in substance that if they were satisfied that the accused administered poison to Mabel Schofield, unlawfully and with bad intent, and that she died from the poison thus administered, then they should find him guilty of murder in the first degree, although there was no specific intent to kill. This instruction was approved by the supreme court as a correct expression of the law of the state. With that aspect of the question we have nothing to do. But it is assigned as error and argued here that this instruction in effect withdrew from the jury the question of the degree of the murder, and to that extent denied the plaintiff in error a trial by jury, and therefore denied him due process of law, in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Without intimating that upon this statement any Federal question is presented, we must first consider whether the question was raised in the court below in such a manner as to give us jurisdiction to consider it. There is nothing in the record to show that it was so raised. The plaintiff in error duly and seasonably excepted to the instructions complained of, but in no way was it then indicated (except as hereafter appears) that he claimed that any right under the Federal Constitution was impaired by them.

The judgment of the state supreme court does not contain the slightest allusion to any...