State v. Harper
| Citation | 205 La. 228,17 So.2d 260 |
| Decision Date | 07 February 1944 |
| Docket Number | 37374. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE v. HARPER. |
J. Vance Thompson, of Alexandria, for defendant-appellant.
Eugene Stanley, Atty. Gen., Niels F. Hertz, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen and Ben F. Thompson, Dist. Atty., and Walter M. Hunter, Asst Dist. Atty., both of Alexandria, for the State appellee.
The defendant, Tom Harper, having been convicted of the crime of 'attempted manslaughter' under a charge by indictment of 'attempt to murder' and sentenced to serve 18 months at hard labor in the state penitentiary, prosecutes this appeal, contending that his conviction and sentence should be reversed since there is no such crime in Louisiana as 'attempted manslaughter,' and such crime is not responsive to a charge of 'attempt to murder' since 'an intent is necessary for conviction under the Attempt Statute of the State of Louisiana' and 'there is no intent in the crime of manslaughter.'
The defendant is in error in his contention that there is no crime of 'attempted manslaughter' in this state for in the Criminal Code adopted by the legislature of 1942 homicide is defined as 'the killing of a human being by the act, procurement or culpable omission of another' and specifically stated to consist of three grades of crimes or offenses, i. e., murder, manslaughter, and negligent homicide (Article 29 of Act No. 43) and Article 27 of the same code provides that 'Any person who, having a specific intent to commit a crime, does or omits an act for the purpose of and tending directly toward the accomplishing of his object is guilty of an attempt to commit the offense intended; and it shall be immaterial whether, under the circumstances, he would have actually accomplished his purpose.' Under the heading 'Specific intent important element' in the comments following this article, it is stated: (Italics ours.) And, under the heading 'Responsive verdicts' in the comments following Article 29, it is stated that 'under an indictment for any basic offense a conviction of the lesser crime of an attempt to commit such offense should be proper.'
It is indisputable that a verdict of manslaughter would be responsive to an indictment of murder and we think that a...
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Richmond v. State, 138
... ... Shell, 307 Md. at 65-68, 512 A.2d at 368-69. Even in the murder context, proof of intent alone is not enough. Cox v. State, 311 Md. 326, 333, 534 A.2d 1333, 1336 (1988), quoting State v. Harper, 205 La. 228, 17 So.2d 260, 260-61 (1944) (quoting Clark and Marshall, Works on Crimes § 255 (4th ed.) (" 'It is manslaughter, and not murder, because there is no malice aforethought, not because of any absence or presence of intention to kill.' "). Whether the charge is murder or another ... ...
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