State v. Henricksen, 41022.
| Decision Date | 24 June 1932 |
| Docket Number | No. 41022.,41022. |
| Citation | 243 N.W. 521,214 Iowa 1077 |
| Parties | STATE v. HENRICKSEN. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Decatur County; A. Ray Maxwell, Judge.
From a conviction of the crime of arson, the defendant appeals. The facts appear in this opinion.W. J. Springer, and R. A. McGinnis, both of Leon, for appellant.
John Fletcher, Atty. Gen., Dio S. McGinnis, Co. Atty., and R. B. Hawkins, both of Leon, for the State.
On the 23d day of January, 1931, the county attorney of Decatur county, Iowa, filed a county attorney's information against the defendant, charging him with having on or about the night of January 21, 1931, in the county of Decatur, state of Iowa, willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and maliciously set fire to a certain barn located in the town of Woodland in said county, then and there occupied by Harold Beavers as a barn, and then and there the property of one Mattie Henricksen.
There was a plea of not guilty. The case was tried to a jury, and the jury returned a verdict of guilty.
The appeal presents a very narrow issue. The error relied upon for reversal is as follows:
“That the Court erred in overruling the motion of the defendant for a directed verdict, made at the close of the State's evidence, and renewed at the close of all the testimony, and in overruling defendant's motion for a new trial, to set aside the verdict, and in arrest of judgment, for the following reasons, to-wit:
1. That other than by the confession of the defendant, not made in open court, the State failed to show by any competent evidence of any kind or character that the crime of arson, as charged, was committed by this defendant.”
The defendant relies upon section 13903 of the Code, which reads as follows:
Briefly stated, the record shows that the barn which was burned was in the possession of a tenant named Harold Beavers.
At that time he had in the barn an automobile, a pair of horses, a cow, and some personal property, such as a set of harness and a few minor items. The horses were kept in a double stall, securely tied with halter and halter straps. The cow was in a separate stall which was closed by two boards, the lower one nailed, and the top one fastened with a rope. The automobile was in the barn and above on the second story some hay was stored. It appears without dispute that some of the hay had been thrown down in the middle of the barn to be convenient for feeding purposes.
Beavers had been at this barn in the evening at chore time, and, when he left it, the doors were closed and latched. Later, between 10 and 11 o'clock at night, Beavers went back to the barn to examine the stock; his explanation being that the cow was expected to drop a calf. When he left the barn on that occasion, the doors were closed and latched. About 12:30 the same night, one Mildred Beavers, a relative of the tenant Beavers, heard dogs barking and heard two cars pass on the road, one of them going west. She occupied a house across the road south and a little west of the location of the barn. She was up more or less during that part of the night, attending to a restless child. Finally, and a few minutes after the last car passed the house, an illumination attracted her attention, which she discerned was caused by the burning barn, and she awoke her husband, Lester Beavers, who went to the scene of the fire. Lester Beavers was the first one to arrive at the scene of the fire. He was joined very soon after by Harold Beavers, the tenant. When Lester Beavers first reached the fire, the barn was burning on the inside. The doors in the barn were open, and there was no stock in the barn. Neither the automobile, the harness, nor the personal property in the barn was recovered, and the barn and contents were entirely consumed. Very shortly thereafter, the cow was found a short distance from the barn, uninjured. The horses were also found eating some fodder a short distance from the barn. Each horse was haltered, and attached to the halter was the ordinary halter strap, intact.
The next day, the office of the fire marshal at Des Moines was informed of the fire, and, as a result, the assistant deputy state fire marshal, the sheriff, the deputy sheriff, and another party began an investigation, and finally drove to the residence of the defendant where they found him doing his chores. His family was away from home. It is explained the wife was called to Sioux City, where she had been for some time, to care for her mother. The defendant invited the men into the house, and, after finishing his chores, a general conversation ensued between the defendant and the staff of officials. Finally, the defendant signed a written statement, known in the record as Exhibit B, which is as follows:
“Decatur County, January 22, 1931.
I, Eros Henricksen, hereby make the following statement of my own free will and accord, without any mental reservation whatever and without any force or duress being used or any promises or leniency from anyone, and furthermore being informed that any statements I make can be used against me in Court. I am 29 years old and live in Hamllton Twp. Decatur County. On January 21st I went to Woodland where I own a store and barn, I went with the intention of setting the barn on fire that night but my nerve failed me. Then again Wed. night Jan. 22, at about 12 o'clock I went back again and set the barn on fire, before setting the barn on fire I turned a cow and 2 horses out and then I went and set it on fire. I set it in some hay that was in the center of the barn. The reason I set the barn on fire was that I needed money. By setting the barn on fire, I figured that I could raise the money. I had $300.00 Insurance on barn.
H. E. Henricksen.
Witnesses:
E. F. Kendall.”
After signing the said Exhibit B, the defendant was taken to the county jail, where he remained for a few days pending efforts to secure a bail bond. While in jail, Roy Beavers and Ira Beavers called on the defendant and had a conversation with him about the car which was destroyed in the fire. During that conversation, the defendant agreed to...
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