Nuthill v. State

• Decision Date: 31 December 1850
• Citation: 30 Tenn. 247
• Parties: NUTHILL v. THE STATE.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

30 Tenn. 247

NUTHILL

v.THE STATE.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

December Term, 1850.

Nuthill was indicted and convicted, as an accessory before the fact to murder in the first degree, before Judge Turner in the criminal court at Nashville.

He appealed.

Temple and G. Maney, for the plaintiff in error; Attorney-General, for the State.

TOTTEN, J., delivered the opinion of the court.

Carroll King and William Nuthill were indicted in the criminal court of Davidson, for the murder of James Rhodes; that is, the said Carroll King as principal, and the said William Nuthill as accessory before the fact.At the April term, 1849, of said court, the principal was convicted of the murder in the first degree with mitigating circumstances, and sentenced to the penitentiary of the State for life.

At the October term, 1850, the prisoner William Nuthill, was convicted as accessory to the murder before the fact, and sentenced to the penitentiary of the State for life.

The judgment of the law upon this grade of homicide is death, both as to the principal, and accessory before the fact.

But by statute(1838, ch. 29), “where any person is convicted of murder in the first degree” and the jury shall be of the opinion and find that there “were mitigating circumstances in the case,” the punishment shall be commuted to imprisonment for life.Under this law the principal was sentenced fo imprisonment for life, there being mitigating circumstances in the commission of the offence.Upon principle, the prisoner, as accessory, cannot be guilty of a greater offence than his principal; nor be made to suffer a greater punishment for being accessory to that offence.He may be guilty of a higher grade of moral turpitude, and intend that his principal shall commit the highest grade of offence.Yet if it be not committed, or a less offence be committed, the accessory...