Hamilton v. People of State

• Decision Date: 22 January 1885
• Citation: 113 Ill. 34,55 Am.Rep. 396
• Parties: WILLIAM HAMILTON et al.v.THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

113 Ill. 34

55 Am.Rep. 396

WILLIAM HAMILTON et al.

v.THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed at Mt. Vernon Jan. 22, 1885.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

WRIT OF ERROR to the Circuit Court of Saline county; the Hon. OLIVER A. HARKER, Judge, presiding.

Messrs. MORRIS & BOYER, for the plaintiffs in error:

The charging part of the indictment is, that the defendants, on and at, etc., “with a certain loaded pistol, and with a certain hoe, the same being a deadly weapon, which said pistol and hoe the said (defendants) then and there held in their hands, with which said pistol and hoe the said (defendants) did then and there unlawfully make an assault upon one S. P., in the peace of the People, then and there being with an intent, then and there, with the pistol and hoe aforesaid, unlawfully, feloniously, with malice aforethought, to kill and murder the said S. P.,” etc. Under this charge the People were bound to prove the hoe was a deadly weapon, and that the assault was made with both.

The defendants tried could not have been convicted as accessories to the shooting by Eaton, without also proof of the other alleged cause. 3 Greenleaf on Evidence, sec. 141; Moore's Crim. Law, sec. 138; Rex v. Saunders, 7 C. & P. 277.

The proof does not show these defendants aided and abetted Eaton in his assault, but that they prevented Eaton from shooting the prosecutor. The charge in the indictment is fatally defective, because of its uncertainty.

Mr. W. V. CHOISSER, for the People:

A person may be guilty of murder although he took no part in the killing, nor assented to any arrangement having for its object the death of another, if he combined with those who committed the deed to do an unlawful act, such as, to beat or rob, and death ensue in consequence of the attempt to execute the common purpose. Brennan v. People, 15 Ill. 511.

If a defendant, and others indicted with him, had a common design to do an unlawful act, then, in contemplation of law, whatever act any one of them did in furtherance of the original design, is the act of all, and all are equally guilty of whatever crime was committed. Hanna v. People, 86 Ill. 243.

The objection raised to the sufficiency of the indictment is certainly not well taken. It is not necessary to allege the commission of the act constituting the assault, nor to state the means used by the assailant, nor the manner of committing the assault. Connolly v. People, 3 Scam. 417; Allen v. People, 82 Ill. 610; McKinney v. State, 25 Wis. 378; State v. Chandler, 24 Mo. 371.

The Supreme Court of Iowa, in State v. Seaman, 1 Green, 418, holds an indictment good which charges the assault to have been made with a deadly weapon, without any description of the instrument.

Mr. JUSTICE MULKEY delivered the opinion of the Court:

At the September term, 1883, of the Saline circuit court, William Hamilton, Hat Mitchell and William Eaton were jointly indicted for an assault upon Samuel Parks, with intent to murder. At the March term, 1884, of the court, Hamilton and Mitchell were alone put upon trial, which resulted in their conviction, the jury fixing the term of their confinement in the penitentiary at two years, and the court sentenced them accordingly. The accused have brought the record here for review, and ask a reversal of the conviction mainly on the ground it is not sustained by the evidence.

The difficulty out of which the present prosecution arose, occurred on the farm of Samuel Parks, between eight and ten o'clock of the night of September 1, 1883. The account given by Parks of the affair, is in substance as follows: “For two nights previous to the difficulty some one had been in my water-melon patch. I went down to the orchard and melon patch between eight and ten o'clock. My son, Samuel, went with me, and took a shot gun. We located about ten steps apart. Soon we heard some one coming. It was Hamilton, Mitchell and Eaton. After they had crossed the fence and started in the patch, one of them said, ‘The biggest ones are down this way.’ Mitchell came towards me, and Hamilton and Eaton went towards the boy. He halted them. Mitchell ran. Eaton called him a damned coward, and called him back, saying, ‘There's only a man and a boy,--let's get what we came after.’ I invited them to go to the house with me and eat water-melons, but they refused. Eaton told the boy not to shoot, and was rushing towards him. I told them the boy would not shoot,-- that he was nothing but a boy, and not to hurt him. Hamilton said that Eaton was nothing but a boy either, and to let...