Creasy v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 11 June 1936
• Parties: PAUL CREASY v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Page 721

166 Va. 721

PAUL CREASY v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA.

Supreme Court of Virginia, Wytheville.

June 11, 1936.

Present, All the Justices.

1. ACCOMPLICES AND ACCESSORIES — What Constitutes One an Aider and Abettor. — To constitute one an aider and abettor, he must be guilty of some overt act, or he must share the criminal intent of the principal or party who commits the crime.

2. ACCOMPLICES AND ACCESSORIES — Mere Presence and Consent. — Mere presence and consent alone are not sufficient to constitute one an aider and abettor in the commission of a crime.

3. ROBBERY — Accomplices and Accessories — Questions of Law and Fact — Whether Accused Shared Criminal Intent of Perpetrator of Crime — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, a prosecution for robbery, accused, while returning from work, met up with some men whom he knew, including one Solomon, who had been twice in the penitentiary to the knowledge of the accused. The party had some whiskey and when it was gone Solomon declared his intention to get some more. He produced a sawed-off shot gun and shortly thereafter held up a car. He ordered his companions, including accused, to get in the car, and they drove to a bootlegging establishment where Solomon took some money from the owner of the car and bought whiskey. Accused took a drink with the others and Solomon got in the back and another member of the party drove. While in the back Solomon took a wrist watch from the owner of the car. Thereafter accused was allowed to drive and after driving about for a time stopped the car and got out and went home. The owner of the car testified that accused said nothing, took no part in the taking of the money or the wrist watch and did nothing to intimidate him.

Held: That while accused committed no overt act in the commission of the offense, and did nothing in the way of aiding, abetting, counselling or advising its commission, the question of whether or not accused shared the criminal intent of Solomon when the latter took the money was a question for the jury.

Error to a judgment of the Corporation Court of the city of Lynchburg.

The opinion states the case.

Paul H. Coleman, for the plaintiff in error.

Abram P. Staples, Attorney-General, and Joseph L. Kelly, Jr., Special Assistant, for the Commonwealth.

CHINN, J.,^* delivered the opinion of the court.

Paul Creasy was convicted in the Corporation Court of the city of Lynchburg of robbery from the person of one S. J. Mallan and sentenced to eight years confinement in the penitentiary.

The only error assigned is the refusal of the trial court to sustain the motion of the accused to set aside the verdict of the jury on the ground that it is contrary to the law and the evidence.

The accused, a young man twenty-one years of age, had previously borne a good reputation as to character and industry, though he had a weakness for intoxicating liquor and had once been arrested for drunkenness.

On the afternoon of October 10, 1934, he was on his was home from the factory at which he worked, which was by way of the railway tracks, when he met up with Ira Solomon, Howard Stanley, John Baldwin, and other parties, who stopped Creasy and gave him a drink of whiskey. Baldwin and Stanley were both young men of about the same age as the accused and he had known them for quite a while. Solomon, whom Creasy had known for only a few weeks, was considerably older and had been twice to the penitentiary, which was known to the accused. He was also then under conviction for cutting a man's throat, which fact was known to Creasy. All the parties were drinking when Creasy encountered them and he seems to have readily joined in the spirit of the occasion. The drinking continued until their supply of liquor was exhausted, when Stanley Solomon and Baldwin left the rest of the party and went down the railroad track to where a camp car was located on a side-track. Solomon pawned a ring for fifty cents and procured another quart of liquor. When that was gone he told Stanley, Baldwin and the accused to wait for him until he got back. After Solomon left, Stanley and Baldwin went off together and told the accused to wait for Solomon, which he did. When Solomon came back he said to the accused, "Let's go and get us a drink of whiskey," and pulled out a sawed-off shot gun which he was carrying inside his overalls. It had by that time gotten to be night. Solomon and the accused then went down the street where they again encountered Stanley and Baldwin. He pointed the shot gun at them and said, "I am a good notion to shoot both of you, why did you all want to leave?" Baldwin had procured a pint of liquor of which they all took a drink, and Solomon then told them to "Come on." After turning from Campbell avenue into 12th street, a car drew up to the curb and stopped. Solomon, who was walking ahead with the sawed-off shot gun, threw open the door of the car and ordered the occupant, S. J. Mallan, to move over, and at the same time ordered Baldwin and the accused to get in the back seat of the car with him. Mallan moved over to the right front seat, and Stanley took his place under the steering wheel and drove off. The car was driven out of the city to a bootlegging establishment operated by one "Catfish" Woody. Solomon asked "Catfish" if he had any whiskey. "Catfish" told him he had none. From there they drove to another speakeasy operated by one "Crip" Lawhorne. On arriving there Solomon asked Mallan if he had any money. Mallan replied that he had $1.50 and made a move to...