Harris v. People
| Decision Date | 24 February 1959 |
| Docket Number | No. 18645,18645 |
| Citation | 139 Colo. 9,335 P.2d 550 |
| Parties | John Garland HARRIS and John Edward Walker, Plaintiffs in Error, v. PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Caddes & Capra, Denver, for plaintiffs in error.
Duke W. Dunbar, Atty. Gen., Frank E. Hickey, Deputy Atty. Gen., Norman H. Comstock, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.
Plaintiffs in error, hereinafter referred to as defendants, together with one Goff, were accused of committing an assault with a deadly weapon upon one Donna L. McDermott with intent to commit a bodily injury upon her. A similar charge was filed against defendants in which James Russell was the alleged victim. The two cases were consolidated for trial by consent of the parties. They waived a trial by jury and having entered a plea of not guilty the consolidated cases were tried to the court. Defendants were adjudged guilty and sentenced to a term of not less than three nor more than five years in the state penitentiary. The third defendant, Goff, was tried separately.
But one question is involved in this review on writ of error, namely: Was there sufficient evidence, as a matter of law, to sustain the judgment?
We answer the question in the affirmative. The two defendants and Goff were driving an automobile at about 11:00 p. m. on September 5, 1957, and stopped in front of a residence in which Mike Mahler was visiting Donna McDermott. Her stepfather, one James Russell, had retired for the night. He was aroused by defendants who had started to steal the hubcaps from the automobiles belonging to Mahler and Russell which were parked in front of the house. Russell, Mahler and Donna rushed outside, whereupon Goff fled down the street and the two defendants drove off. Russell, Mahler and Donna took up the chase in Mahler's car. Defendants eluded their pursuers who returned to the residence and about that time defendants again drove by the house for the purpose of picking up Goff, and the chase began again.
Russell, Mahler and Donna caught up with the three suspects in an alley at a point where the suspects' automobile broke down. Mahler stopped his car in the alley eight or ten feet from the crippled car. He and the other two occupants got out of their car and demanded the hubcaps which had been taken. Defendants denied having any hubcaps. They invited Mahler to look inside their car. He made the assertion that it was a matter for the police to decide. Thereafter the facts as found by the trial court are that Mahler went back and started to get in his car; Donna and her stepfather had already returned to the car. Defendants thereupon seized Mahler and, as he stated: 'They pulled me out of the car, and felt like they were slugging me in the chest, and Donna got out and she started screaming, and the next thing I knew they were running away from us.' Mahler suffered knife cuts on the wrist, the elbow and several cuts on the chest requiring hospitalization, and, about '22 or 23 stitches altogether' were required to close his knife wounds.
While the two defendants were thus assaulting Mahler, Goff seized Donna and stabbed her in the abdomen, and Russell, who came to her aid, fought with Goff. Russell also received serious knife wounds. Donna and Russell were hospitalized for their injuries. It is admitted that the two defendants did not personally inflict any of the injuries upon either Donna or Russell, and that the assault upon them was actually committed by their confederate Goff during the time the two defendants were assaulting Mahler.
It is the contention of counsel for defendants that under these facts defendants are not accountable for the assault actually committed by Goff. The Attorney General contends that defendants are accessories and were properly convicted as such.
The trial court commented as follows at the conclusion of the evidence:
'Altogether, I am compelled to find these...
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