Lynch v. United States

• Decision Date: 25 November 1925
• Docket Number: No. 6800.,6800.
• Citation: 10 F.2d 947
• Parties: LYNCH v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

10 F.2d 947 (1925)

LYNCH v. UNITED STATES.

No. 6800.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

November 25, 1925.

Horsley & Stith and B. C. Trice, all of Pawhuska, Okl., for plaintiff in error.

W. A. Maurer, U. S. Atty., and James A. Ingraham, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of Oklahoma City, Okl.

Before SANBORN and KENYON, Circuit Judges, and SCOTT, District Judge.

WALTER H. SANBORN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff in error was tried and convicted in the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Oklahoma upon an indictment charging possession of intoxicating liquors in Indian country, to wit, Pawhuska, Osage county, Oklahoma. A motion to quash the indictment, for the reason that it failed to state facts sufficient to constitute an offense under the laws and statutes of the United States, and that the act under which the indictment was found was in conflict with the Eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, was overruled by the court. Nine assignments of error are filed, some merely formal.

The first assignment of error is as follows: "Because the court erred in overruling the defendant's motion to set aside, vacate, and quash the indictment herein." This raises the question as to the action of the court on the motion, made in seasonable and proper time, to quash the indictment. In view of our conclusion as to this, it is unnecessary to discuss the other assignments of error. We turn therefore to the indictment. Laying aside the formal parts thereof it charges: "That heretofore, to wit, on or about the 7th day of December, 1922, at Pawhuska, in Osage county, in the Western district of the state of Oklahoma, and within the jurisdiction of this court, H. L. Lynch, whose more full, true, and correct name is to the grand jurors unknown, then and there being, did then and there knowingly, willfully, and feloniously have in his possession certain intoxicating liquors, to wit, one (1) pint of whisky, in and upon Indian country, to wit, Osage county, Oklahoma."

Is this a sufficient statement of the alleged crime? This court has many times stated the fact essentials of a valid indictment. In Miller et al. v. United States, 133 F. 337, 341, 66 C. C. A. 399, 403, it said: "It must set forth the facts which the pleader claims constitute the alleged transgression so distinctly as to advise the accused of the charge which he has to meet, so fully as to give him a fair opportunity to prepare his defense, so particularly as to enable him to avail himself of a conviction or acquittal in defense of another prosecution for the same crime, and so clearly that the court, upon an examination of the indictment, may be able to determine whether or not, under the law, the facts there stated are sufficient to support a conviction." Again the same doctrine is enunciated in Fontana v. United States (C. C. A.) 262 F. 283; Goldberg v. United States (C. C. A.) 277 F. 211; Weisman v. United States (C. C. A.) 1 F.(2d) 696; Armour Packing Co. v. United States, 153 F. 1, 17, 82 C. C. A. 135, 14 L. R. A. (N. S.) 400.

In United States v. Hess, 124 U. S. 483, 8 S. Ct. 571, 31 L. Ed. 516, the Supreme Court declared: "The object of the indictment is, first, to furnish the accused with such a description of the charge against him as will enable him to make his defense, and avail himself of his conviction or acquittal for protection against a further prosecution for the same cause; and, second, to inform the court of the facts alleged, so that it may decide whether they are sufficient in law to support a conviction, if one should be had."

The defendant in a criminal case, in view of his presumed innocence, is not only entitled to know from the statements of the indictment what facts the prosecution considers sufficient to make him guilty of the offense charged, with reasonable particularity, so that he may procure witnesses and make proper defense thereto, but he is also entitled to demand that the indictment charge the essential facts so specifically that the judgment rendered will be a complete defense to a second prosecution for the same offense. United States v. Hess, 124 U. S. 483, 8 S. Ct. 571, 31 L. Ed. 516; Armour Packing Co. v. United States, 153 F. 1, 82 C. C. A. 135, 14 L. R. A. (N. S.) 400; Floren v. United States, 186 F. 961, 108 C. C. A. 577. In the light of the decisions referred to and the foregoing observations, does the indictment meet the legal test? Does it set forth the facts, which the pleader claimed constituted the offense in this case, so distinctly as to appraise the defendant of the charge he had to meet, and so completely as to give him a fair opportunity to prepare his defense, so particularly as to enable him to avail himself of a conviction or acquittal in defense of another prosecution for the same offense?

The consideration and answering of these questions must be made under and in accordance with these established rules and principles.

First. Where one is indicted for a serious offense, the legal presumption is that he is not guilty; that he is ignorant of the supposed facts upon which the...