State v. Gibson

• Decision Date: 08 April 1896
• Citation: 66 N.W. 742,97 Iowa 416
• Parties: STATE OF IOWA v. DUDLEY GIBSON, Appellant
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

66 N.W. 742

97 Iowa 416

STATE OF IOWA v. DUDLEY GIBSON, Appellant

Supreme Court of Iowa, Des Moines

April 8, 1896

Appeal from Fremont District Court.--HON. A. B. THORNELL, Judge.

THE defendant was convicted of the crime of breaking and entering a building, with the intent to commit a public offense; and from the judgment, which required that he be imprisoned in the state penitentiary at Ft. Madison, at hard labor, for the term of one year, and pay the costs, he appeals.

Affirmed.

W. E Mitchell for appellant.

Milton Remley, attorney general, and Jesse A. Miller for the state.

OPINION

ROBINSON, J.

The indictment charges that the defendant did, on the twenty-eighth day of March, 1895, "willfully and feloniously break and enter a certain building, to-wit, a corncrib, belonging to, and the property of, one M. U. Payne said building being a place in which goods and valuable things, to-wit, corn, were kept for use, sale, and deposit by the said M. U. Payne, with the felonious intent on the part of the said Dudley Gibson, * * * then and there feloniously to take, steal, and carry away, the said goods and valuable things of the said M. U. Payne, and then and there, to commit a public offense, to-wit, larceny." The evidence for the state shows that, at the time stated in the indictment, the defendant broke into a structure known as a "corncrib," and removed therefrom corn. The crib and contents were owned by one Payne, and the acts of the defendant were without authority, and in violation of law. The crib was about one hundred and fifty feet long, twelve or thirteen feet wide inside, eleven feet high on one side fourteen feet high on the other, and was nearly filled with corn. It was made by setting two rows of oak posts about thirteen feet apart. The posts were from six to ten inches in diameter, and were set three feet apart in each row. Each post was joined to the corresponding post in the opposite row by a joist two by twelve inches in size, and fourteen feet long, which was nailed to the bottoms of the posts. On the joists were nailed boards an inch and a half or two inches thick, and twelve inches wide, which made the floor of the crib. The sides and ends were made by nailing to the posts fencing boards, which were six inches wide and one inch thick. Those boards were placed close together from the floor, to a height of three or four feet, and above that were so placed as to leave spaces from an inch to an inch and a half between the boards. The crib was roofed with flooring, tongued and grooved and painted. The boards on one side of the crib were nailed in the manner stated, from the floor to the roof. On the other side the boards were nailed in like manner, excepting that a board was left out at a distance of about a foot and a half from the roof. The crib did not contain any doors or windows. The defendant, at the time stated, chopped off with an ax the end of a bottom board, then started the corn to running out, by pulling out some of it with his hands. He then brought his team to the crib, and commenced loading his wagon with the corn. When he had obtained about eighteen bushels, he was arrested. There is no controversy in regard to any of these facts.

When the evidence for the state had been submitted, the defendant asked the court to direct a verdict of not guilty, on grounds which may be stated as...