Sanderson v. The State

• Decision Date: 22 November 1907
• Docket Number: 20,952
• Citation: 82 N.E. 525,169 Ind. 301
• Parties: Sanderson v. The State
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

82 N.E. 525

169 Ind. 301

Sanderson v. The State

No. 20,952

Supreme Court of Indiana

November 22, 1907

From Wells Circuit Court; C. W. Watkins, Special Judge.

Prosecution by the State of Indiana against Ernest Sanderson. From a judgment of conviction, defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

Jay A Hindman and Eichhorn & Matlack, for appellant.

James Bingham, Attorney-General, E. M. White, H. M. Dowling and A G. Cavins, for the State.

OPINION

Jordan, J.--

Appellant, together with Otto Cook, William Cook, Samuel Emery, Ollie Sanderson and Clara Smith, was charged by an indictment returned by a grand jury of Blackford county with having at said county, on October 23, 1904, "feloniously, purposely and with premeditated malice, killed and murdered one Edward P. Sanderson" by shooting and mortally wounding him with a certain revolver then and there loaded. Upon arraignment each of the defendants pleaded not guilty. Upon applications a change of venue was granted from the Blackford Circuit Court, and the cause was transferred to the Wells Circuit Court. In the latter court appellant was tried separately and apart from his codefendants. On October 4, 1905, the cause was submitted to a jury, and the latter, after hearing the evidence, the argument of the respective counsel, and the instructions of the court, retired to the jury room on October 18, 1905, and on the same day returned into court a verdict, finding appellant guilty of murder in the second degree, and assessing his punishment at imprisonment in the state prison for life. Over his motion for a new trial, assigning various reasons, judgment was rendered upon the verdict. From this judgment he appeals, and the only error which he assigns is the overruling of his motion for a new trial.

The only points discussed and relied upon by his counsel for reversal are, (1) that the judgment is not sustained by sufficient evidence; (2) that the court erred in the admission of certain evidence. In the motion for a new trial 185 separate grounds are assigned. The first three of these are that the verdict is contrary to law, contrary to the evidence, and is not sustained by sufficient evidence. The reasons numbered from four to nine, inclusive, challenge certain instructions, but these grounds are not discussed and, therefore, must be considered as waived. The remainder of the reasons assigned, numbered from ten to one hundred eighty-five, inclusive, relate to the competency of evidence offered by the State and admitted by the court over the objections and exceptions of appellant. This evidence was introduced to show particular acts and declarations of appellant's codefendants William and Otto Cook and Ollie Sanderson made before the commission of the crime, and also acts of William and Otto Cook occurring subsequently to the murder of Edward P. Sanderson. It appears to have been the theory and contention of the State at the trial, and also in this appeal, that the above-mentioned codefendants and appellant had conspired together for the purpose of securing control and permanent possession of the property owned by the deceased, and that this conspiracy resulted in the perpetration of the murder. The evidence upon which the accused was convicted in part is circumstantial and in part consists of admissions or declarations made by him.

The evidence in the record is long and the circumstances in the case are many and minute. Therefore it would be impracticable in this opinion to give a complete statement of the testimony given upon the trial. We, however, note some of the facts which there is evidence to establish. Edward P. Sanderson was murdered at Blackford county, Indiana, on the night of October 23, 1904, about 9 o'clock. At the time of his death he was forty-six years old, a farmer owning considerable property, and residing on a small farm, which he owned, near Hartford City. As a matter of history connected with the case, it is shown that his father, Lemuel Sanderson, who died some years prior to the murder of his said son, sometime after the death of the mother of Edward P. married a Mrs. Cook, a widow. Appellant was a child by this marriage and a half-brother of the deceased. At the time of Mrs. Cook's marriage to Lemuel Sanderson she had three children, the fruits of a former marriage. These children were Ollie, William and Otto Cook, all three of whom are codefendants in this action. Ollie Cook married a Mr. Smith. Clara Smith, one of the codefendants, is a daughter by that marriage. Upon the death of Mr. Smith his widow married the deceased, Edward P. Sanderson, and was his wife at the time of his death. For about four years prior to the winter of 1903-4 Ollie Sanderson resided in Hartford City, separately and apart from her husband, Edward P. Sanderson, who resided on his farm. She occupied property in Hartford City owned by her husband. Sometime in 1904 she and her two children moved from Hartford City to the home of her husband. Subsequently she left him and moved to her own farm of about forty acres, situated within a mile of the premises where the deceased resided at the time of his death. Appellant for a period lived with the deceased and his said wife, Ollie, and there is evidence going to show that during this time he and Ollie, his half-sister, each entertained an ill feeling toward the deceased. In fact it is shown that the latter was opposed to appellant's living at his home, for the reason that he and said Ollie were conducting matters about the home and farm as they pleased, and were insisting on selling property belonging to him. Sometime about the middle of April, 1904, when ill feeling existed on the part of appellant against the deceased, arising by reason of and in respect to the sale of property, as hereinafter shown, appellant, in a conversation with a witness who testified at the trial, said that Pres. Sanderson, meaning the deceased, did not want him to remain at his house, and that if he did "not quit acting the d--- fool because I am staying there, we are going to do him up." In the same month Ollie Sanderson, the wife, desired to sell some hay belonging to the deceased. The latter was using this hay to feed the stock on his farm, and he objected to its sale. Appellant and Otto Cook undertook to haul the hay to market and sell it. To this the deceased objected. As a part of the same transaction Otto Cook assaulted and beat the deceased, for which offense he was arrested and prosecuted before a justice of the peace, and a fine was assessed against him. Appellant, together with William Cook and Ollie Sanderson, attended the trial in the interest of Otto. After assaulting and beating the deceased the parties, including appellant, appear to have hauled the hay to Hartford City and sold it, over objections of the deceased, and upon returning from town after its sale appellant cursed the latter and dared him to come out of the house, declaring that he would beat his "head off."

In April, 1904, Mr. Huffman went to see the deceased in regard to purchasing from him a steer. Appellant was present at the time and would not allow the animal to be sold, and on that occasion he said, "Pres.," meaning Edward P. Sanderson, who was generally called Preston, "has got to support us." In May following, the deceased was plowing a field belonging to Walter Ayers, using his own team for that purpose. Ollie Sanderson, William and Otto Cook came to where he was at work for the purpose of taking from him the horses with which he was doing the plowing. They appear to have failed in their mission, but in the afternoon they returned, and then unhitched the horses from the plow, and by force took possession of them, hitched them to a wagon, and hauled certain household goods owned by Ollie Sanderson to her own house, situated on her farm a short distance from the home of the deceased, where she then resided. At the time William and Otto Cook unhitched the horses and took possession of them, and as part of the same transaction, William Cook assaulted the deceased, knocked him down and severely injured him. On this occasion, in addition to taking from the home of the deceased the household goods, they also took chickens, cattle, horses and other property which belonged to the deceased, and which at that time were on his farm. About October 21, 1904, William Cook received information that the deceased intended to institute an action to replevy this property from Ernest Sanderson, William Cook, Otto Cook and Ollie Sanderson. On receiving this information William Cook declared that he would go and "do up" the deceased. On the Saturday night preceding the murder, William Cook returned from Hartford City, and went immediately to Ollie Sanderson's home, which was in the vicinity, as heretofore shown, of the premises upon which the deceased then resided. Appellant met William at Ollie's house on the morning of the day of the homicide, and the two appear to have spent the day together in consultation.

Early in the month of October, 1904, appellant loaned his 32-caliber pistol to a Mr. Emory, who was a near neighbor of Ollie Sanderson. A few days prior to the homicide appellant called upon Emory and obtained this pistol. The murder, as previously said, was perpetrated on Sunday, October 23, about 9 o'clock at night, and on the following morning blood was discovered near a culvert on a highway at the foot of a hill, known as Patterson's hill, in the neighborhood of the houses of the deceased and Ollie Sanderson. On October 31, 1904, about noon, the dead body of the deceased was found in a pond known as Croninger's pond, which is just east of Hartford City, and about two miles from the house where the deceased resided at the time of his death. There was a strap around the neck of the body,...