State v. England

• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: SOMMERVILLE, J.
• Citation: State v. England, 148 La. 178, 86 So. 728 (La. 1920)
• Decision Date: 29 November 1920
• Docket Number: 24244
• Parties: STATE v. ENGLAND et al

86 So. 728

148 La. 178

STATE v. ENGLAND et al

No. 24244

Supreme Court of Louisiana

November 29, 1920

Appeal from Third Judicial District Court, Parish of Claiborne; J E. Reynolds, Judge.

Walter and Fred England were convicted of robbery, and they appeal.

Judgment annulled and reversed.

Scheen & Blanchard, of Shreveport, and T. T. Land, of Homer, for appellants.

A. V Coco, Atty. Gen., and J. Rush Wimberly, Dist. Atty., of Arcadia (T. S. Walmsley of New Orleans, of counsel), for the State.

OPINION

SOMMERVILLE, J.

Defendants in the bill of indictment in this case were charged as follows:

"Did then and there with force and arms unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously seize, rob, take, and carry away the sum of $ 100 in money of legal currency of the United States of America from the person of E. G. Wyatt, the personal property of the said E. G. Wyatt, contrary to the form of the statute of the state of Louisiana in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the same."

Defendants, after conviction, moved in arrest of judgment that the indictment under which they were tried and convicted charges and states no crime known to the laws of the state of Louisiana.

In other words, the motion is based on the omission of the words, or their equivalents, from the bill of indictment, that the taking was "by means of violence or by putting in fear," and substituting therefor the words "with force and arms." Robbery is a common-law offense, and the English common law must be resorted to for the definition of it. Indictments for robbery must set out specifically all the essential elements of the crime at common law, and the indictment in this case is defective in that it does not set out the essential elements of the crime.

Sections 809 and 810 of the Revised Statutes both refer to robbery the former has been applied to ...