People v. Wilson

• Decision Date: 09 April 1895
• Parties: PEOPLE v. WILSON.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

145 N.Y. 628

40 N.E. 392

PEOPLE

v.WILSON.

Court of Appeals of New York.

April 9, 1895.

Appeal from court of oyer and terminer, Onondaga county.

Charles F. Wilson was convicted of murder in the first degree, and appeals. Affirmed.

Harrison Hoyt, for appellant.

Benj. J. Shove, Dist. Atty., for the People.

BARTLETT, J.

On the 31st day of July, 1893, James Harvey, a detective and member of the Syracuse police force, was shot and instantly killed on a public street in that city at 10 o'clock in the forenoon. The tragedy was witnessed by a number of citizens. Two brothers, Lucius R. Wilson and this defendant, Charles F. Wilson, were jointly indicted for murder in the first degree, as the alleged perpetrators of the crime. The defendants demanded separate trials. Lucius R. Wilson was tried, convicted, the judgment affirmed by this court (36 N. E. 230), and sentency of death duly executed. In September last this defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree at the Onondaga oyer and terminer, and we are now called upon to review that judgment.

The learned counsel for the defendant introduced no evidence on his behalf. The material facts are few and simple. On the night of Sunday, June 4, 1893, the shoe store of McBride & Co., on South Salina street, was entered by burglars, the safe opened, and about $600 in money taken, including a quantity of silver in quarter-dollar pieces, dimes, and nickels. On the Friday and Saturday preceding the burglary three strangers had taken meals together in Palmer's restaurant. Two of these strangers were the Wilson brothers, but the identity of the third has never been disclosed. On the Monday following the burglary the same three strangers again visited the restaurant, coming in separately, but eating their meal together. Their bill was three dollars, and it was paid with three quarters, five nickels, and twenty dimes. The three strangers then disappeared from the city of Syracuse. The proprietor of the restaurant had his suspicions aroused by the facts already narrated, and he conferred with McBride and the police officials as to the possibility of the three strangers being implicated in the burglary of the previous Sunday night. It was finally arranged that, if the suspected men should again visit the restaurant, Palmer was to communicate with police headquarters, and they would be placed under arrest. Detective Harvey was advised of the situation, and instructed to make the arrest if the opportunity presented. On the morning of the murder, between 9 and 10 o'clock, the Wilson brothers again appeared in Palmer's restaurant, and ordered breakfast. Palmer at once telephoned police headquarters, and in a few minutes Detective Harvey appeared upon the scene. At the time of Harvey's arrival the Wilson brothers were eating their breakfast. Harvey desired to make the arrest at once, but Palmer asked him to wait until the men had left the restaurant.

A brief description of the location of the restaurant and police station is essential to a proper understanding of the closing scenes in this tragedy. Water street runs east and west; Warren street north and south. Mann's tea store is located at the southeast corner of Water and Warren streets, facing west on Warren street. The police station is on Water street, one block east of Mann's store, and on the same side of the street. Palmer's restaurant is two blocks south of Mann's store, on the east side of Warren street. Harvey was killed on Water street, about 215 feet east of Mann's store, and 160 feet west of the police station. When the Wilson brothers left Palmer's restaurant, they proceeded north, on Warren street, in the direction of Mann's store, which is two blocks distant. Harvey followed them, and, when opposite Mann's store, he tapped them on the shoulders, and the three stepped into the doorway of the store, where they apparently engaged in a quiet conversation, lasting from one to three minutes, according to the testimony of several witnesses who saw the transaction, but were not near enough to hear what was said. No witness was produced who heard this conversation. The Wilson brothers and Harvey then left the doorway, Harvey between them, but not holding or touching them. Lucius was on his left, and Charles, this defendant, on his right. In this position they proceeded north, turned east on Water street, walking quietly towards the police station. Next east of Mann's store a new building was in process of erection, and the sidewalk was barricaded, the obstruction extending some little distance beyond the curb line. The three men walked out into the street around the barricade, and, as they approached the eastern corner of it, Harvey had each prisoner by the arm. They were still proceeding quietly, and not engaged in conversation. Just as they were turning in towards the sidewalk, this defendant, Charles F. Wilson, exclaimed, ‘Let her go!’ At the same instant he caught Harvey by the coat with his left hand, and jerked him around so that, while he had been walking east, he faced west. With his right hand he drew from his hip pocket a revolver 10 or 12 inches long, and dealt Hartvey a severe blow with the butt of it on the left side of the head, which dazed him, and caused his knees to bend as if he was about to fall. At that moment Lucius, who had in the meantime freed himself from the grasp of Harvey, and running to the west on Water street a distance, fixed by various witnesses, anywhere from 8 to 25 feet, turned, and, drawing a revolver similar to the one his brother carried, discharged through the head of Harvey a 45-caliber ball, which entered at the right eye, and emerged at the back of the skull. This defendant, when the shot was fired by his brother, stood about 4 feet from Harvey, with his revolver in hand, evidently awaiting the result of his brother's fire, and ready to complete this assassination of an unarmed peace officer if the first bullet failed to do its work. The brothers then fled. Lucius was captured in about 30 minutes after the shooting, and this defendant nearly a month later, in the city of Buffalo.

The main question presented is whether, as a matter of law, on the facts presented by the people, the conviction of this defendant can stand, notwithstanding he did not fire the fatal shot. The learned trial judge, in his charge to the jury, instructed them with great clearness as to the law governing the case, and repeatedly reminded them there were two theories upon which the defendant could be convicted of murder in the first degree, if, in their opinion, the facts justified it. He called to their attention as the first theory that murder in the first degree is the killing of a human being from a deliberate and premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed or of another (Pen. Code, § 183, subd. 1), and that a person concerned in the commission of a crime, whether he directly commits the act constituting the offense, or aids and abets in its commission, is a principal (Id. § 29). He also pointed out, as the second theory, that murder in the first degree is the killing of a human being without a design to effect death, by a person engaged in the commission of or in an attempt to commit a felony, either upon or affecting the person killed or otherwise. Id. § 183, subd. 3. The jury were instructed that the people claimed the evidence justified a finding that there was an understanding between these two brothers, made previously or at the time, to resist to the utmost being arrested, even if that resistance led to the taking of human life; and, this being so, it constituted a deliberate and premeditated design to kill, and, death resulting, it was murder in the first degree. The jury were also instructed that if they found the two brothers were acting jointly, and were aiding and assisting each other in escaping or attempting to escape, by force, from the lawful custody of the deceased, then they need not find a design to effect Harvey's death, and both were guilty of murder in the first degree. It was also left to the jury to determine whether, under all the circumstances of this case, the two brothers were in lawfulcustody of Harvey as...