Klein v. People of State

• Decision Date: 15 May 1885
• Citation: Klein v. People of State , 113 Ill. 596 (Ill. 1885)
• Parties: CLEMENS KLEINv.THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

113 Ill. 596

CLEMENS KLEIN

v.THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed at Ottawa May 15, 1885.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

WRIT OF ERROR to the Criminal Court of Cook county; the Hon. KIRK HAWES, Judge, presiding.

Messrs. MOORE & PURNELL, for the plaintiff in error.

Mr. GEORGE HUNT, Attorney General, for the People.

Mr. JUSTICE MULKEY delivered the opinion of the Court:

On the 17th of January, 1884, Clemens Klein, plaintiff in error, impleaded with Henry Tiederman, was convicted in the Criminal Court of Cook county, on a charge of robbery, the jury fixing the time of his confinement in the penitentiary at eight years. Motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment having severally been made and overruled, the court, on the 4th of February following, entered final judgment upon the verdict, to reverse which the accused has brought the present writ of error.

Eva Reed, the prosecuting witness, testified, in substance, that in the afternoon of October 11, 1883, between the hours of one and two o'clock, while walking east on Garfield avenue, in the outskirts of the city of Chicago, she saw both defendants standing near an alley, in front of her, and on the same side of the street she was walking; that she noticed no one about there but them, and as she came near them they were looking across the street as if hunting for some number of a house, one of them remarking, “There is 239 across the street;” that upon reaching them, they separated, so that she had to pass between them, and in doing so, Tiederman grabbed her hand-bag with both his hands and pulled it off the arm on which it was hanging; that upon thus jerking it from her arm, they both ran off, Tiederman taking it with him; that it contained her pocket-book, in which was some change, and seven dollars in United States Treasury notes and National bank notes, belonging to her; that the handbag was taken with such force that it bruised her arm, and that it was lame for several days. On cross-examination she stated further: “It was my impression that the handle was broken, or the ring that fastened on the handle, and that let it off my arm. I am positive defendant Klein is one of the men who robbed me. I have no doubt about it. * * * I had a good opportunity to see him as I walked from the corner of Orchard street. * * * I was not very much frightened when I ran. I called out, ‘Police! Stop thief!’ They looked over their shoulders as they ran, and I saw their faces. I reported at the police station. At four o'clock I saw defendant Klein, and said he was one who robbed me.”

George Hopkins, a boy twelve years of age, testified that he was, at the time of the occurrence, playing cricket in a back yard near by; that he heard Miss Reed scream, ran to the alley, and saw both defendants running toward Center street, through the alley; that they were running toward him, and ran past him; that he saw defendant Klein at the police station next day, and knew him as soon as he saw him.

These witnesses are in no manner impeached. The defence, to the clear case thus made by the People, is an alleged alibi. The testimony of five witnesses, besides the accused, is relied on to establish it. The witnesses are, John Quinn, Nora Quinn, Minnie Reinkey, Kittie Arnold, and Charles Tennis. The claim of the accused is, that at the time the offence is alleged to have been committed, namely, some time between one and two o'clock P. M., he was in the saloon of witness John Quinn, at No. 167 Larrabee street. This witness swears that Klein came to the saloon at one o'clock, exactly. No other witness fixes the time of his arrival there, though the accused himself testifies he was there at one. Minnie Reinkey swears to have seen Klein, in company with Tennis, going south on Larrabee street, a little after one o'clock, and if this is true, Klein could not have been at the saloon at that hour, as stated by John Quinn and the accused. The more important inquiry, however, relates to the time when Klein left the saloon. Nora Quinn, who was at the time tending bar for John Quinn, swears that she saw defendant there from half-past one o'clock until after two. John Quinn left the saloon, as he testifies, at half-past one, and consequently he could not know, nor did he pretend to state, when the accused left. Neither Minnie Reinkey nor Kittie Arnold saw him at the saloon at all, and knew nothing as to the time of his leaving. The only other witness, then, outside of the accused himself, is Tennis, who testified: “We left the saloon near two o'clock. I looked at my watch at 1:40, and soon afterward we left.” The plain inference from the testimony of this witness is, they left some time before two o'clock.

Of the five witnesses relied on to establish an alibi, but one of them states the accused was at the saloon as late as two o'clock; one of them left the saloon a half hour before that time; two do not know even of his being there, and the remaining one swears, in effect, he left there before that time. Now, when we add to this the proximity of the saloon to the place where the crime was committed, the distance between the two places being fixed by a police officer at three-quarters of a mile, and then make reasonable allowance for differences in time-pieces and in opinions respecting the time, the proof of an alibi is anything but satisfactory. So far as the case made by the People is concerned, the particular hour at which the robbery occurred is not important. That it did occur is not questioned, and the prosecuting witness herself may have been mistaken as to the exact time, without at all affecting her testimony in other respects. Supposing the offence to have occurred twenty or thirty minutes later than she supposed, it is manifest the defence of an alibi has utterly failed. To have made this defence anything like...