State v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 01 October 1887
• Parties: STATE v. JOHNSON.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

5 S.W. 699

93 Mo. 73

STATE v. JOHNSON.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

October Term, 1887.

1. CONVICT — OFFENSE COMMITTED IN PENITENTIARY — INDICTMENT.

Defendant, a prisoner in the penitentiary, objected to an indictment for arson that it did not state that he was lawfully confined in the penitentiary the length of his term, nor the court that sentenced him. Held that, under Rev. St. Mo. § 1668, providing for the trial of convicts for crimes committed in the penitentiary, the mere allegation of the fact that defendant was then a convict in the penitentiary is sufficient.

2. ARSON — INDICTMENT — AVERMENT THAT PROPERTY BURNED WAS OCCUPIED.

A convict in the penitentiary, accused of arson of the penitentiary, objected that the indictment did not allege that any one usually occupied or lodged in any of the shops or buildings at the time of setting fire to the same. Held, that an averment in the indictment that, at the time when the penitentiary was set fire to, certain officers, servants, and employes of the state did usually lodge there, was sufficient.

3. SAME — AVERMENT OF OWNERSHIP — STATE PENITENTIARY.

The defendant, accused of arson of the "state penitentiary and shops and buildings therein," objected that no ownership was alleged in the buildings burned. Held that, the state penitentiary and the buildings set fire to being public buildings, the ownership of the same was sufficiently averred.

4. SAME — INDICTMENT — CHRISTIAN NAME — INITIALS.

Defendant, in a trial for arson, objected that in the indictment he was not described by his Christian or first name. Held that, under Rev. St. Mo. §§ 1819, 1821, regulating the procedure in case of misnomer, the indictment was not defective because it designated him by the initials of his Christian names only.

Error to district court, Cole county; E. L. EDWARDS, Judge.

B. G. Boone, Atty. Gen., for the State. Geo. T. White, for plaintiff in error.

NORTON, C. J.

Defendant was indicted in the Cole county circuit court for arson in the second degree. Upon his plea of guilty, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in the penitentiary. Afterwards he filed his motion in arrest of the judgment, which being overruled, he presents the writ of error to this court.

The grounds alleged in the motion to meet the judgment are as follows: (1) That the indictment does not charge that defendant was lawfully confined in the penitentiary, and the length of term of his sentence and confinement given, nor the court that sentenced him; (2) that it does not allege that any one usually occupied or lodged in any of the shops or buildings at the time of setting fire to same; (3) that no ownership is alleged in the buildings burned; (4) the defendant is not described by his Christian or first name.

The indictment, omitting the formal parts of it, is as follows: "That one J. B. Johnson, being then and there a convict confined in the state penitentiary, then and there situate, the said penitentiary being then and there the state prison, wherein persons convicted of felonious crimes are usually confined and lodged, according to the statutes in such cases made and provided, wherein, also, certain officers, servants, and employes of said state, in charge of and employed in said penitentiary, usually, at the time aforesaid, did lodge, feloniously, willfully, and maliciously did set fire to the penitentiary aforesaid, the shops and other buildings therein contained, and the same then and there, by such firing as aforesaid, feloniously, willfully, and maliciously did burn, against the peace and dignity of the state."

As to the first point raised to the indictment, it may be said that section 1668, Rev. St., among other things, provides that, "if any convict shall commit any crime in the penitentiary, or in any county in this state, while under sentence, the court having jurisdiction of criminal offenses in such county shall have jurisdiction of such offense, and such convict may be charged, tried, and convicted in like manner as other persons." It will be observed...