Merchant v. State
| Decision Date | 13 May 1916 |
| Docket Number | A-2325. |
| Parties | MERCHANT v. STATE. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
Syllabus by the Court.
An information should charge the crime alleged to have been committed with precision and certainty, and, where an information is so unintelligible as to fail to disclose under what particular provision of the Penal Code the prosecution is conducted, a demurrer thereto should be sustained.
One charged with crime is entitled to be advised by the indictment or information of the nature of the offense against which he is to defend.
There is no such crime known to the laws of this state as aggravated assault.
Appeal from District Court, Stephens County; Frank M. Bailey, Judge.
Huse Merchant was convicted of assault, and appeals. Reversed.
Bond & Sandlin, of Duncan, for plaintiff in error.
R McMillan, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Plaintiff in error, Huse Merchant, was convicted at the April, 1914 term of the district court of Stephens County on a charge of assault with intent to kill, and his punishment fixed at a year in the state penitentiary. The information upon which the judgment is based charges that:
"The said Huse Merchant * * * did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, and with malice aforethought, and with a premeditated design to effect the death of one Bill Green, then and there, with a certain automatic pistol loaded with powder and balls, being a dangerous weapon, likely to produce death, which the defendant then and there had and held in his hands, made an assault on the said Bill Green, and did then and there attempt to shoot the said Bill Green with said automatic pistol, and did then and there strike the said Bill Green on the face and head with said pistol, thereby and by the force of said blows did cut and bruise the face and head of the said Bill Green, inflicting grievous and dangerous wounds, done and accomplished with the willful, unlawful, and felonious intent, with malice aforethought, and with a premeditated design to kill and murder the said Bill Green."
The verdict returned by the jury after deliberating and duly considering said cause is as follows:
"We, the jury drawn, impaneled, and sworn in the above-entitled cause, do upon our oaths find the defendant, Huse Merchant, guilty of an aggravated assault as charged in the information herein, and fix his punishment at one year in the state prison."
Proper objection was made to the sufficiency of the information in due time. The sufficiency of the verdict was also raised opportunely.
The information does not state an offense under any one section of statute. Evidently it was the intention of the pleader when he began to charge an attempt to shoot under section 2336 (Rev. Laws 1910), which is as follows:
"Any person who intentionally...
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