State v. Snyder
Citation | 172 P. 364,41 Nev. 453 |
Decision Date | 30 April 1918 |
Docket Number | 2315. |
Parties | STATE v. SNYDER. |
Court | Supreme Court of Nevada |
Appeal from District Court, Washoe County; E. J. L. Taber, Judge.
Al Snyder was convicted of robbery, and appeals. Affirmed.
Withers & Withers, of Reno, for appellant.
Geo. B Thatcher, Atty. Gen., E. T. Patrick and Wm. McKnight, Deputy Attys. Gen., and E. F. Lunsford, Dist. Atty., of Reno, for the State.
Appellant was convicted of the crime of robbery, and appeals.
"Robbery" is defined by our statute to be:
"The unlawful taking of personal property from the person of another, or in his presence, against his will, by means of force or violence or fear of injury, immediate or future to his person or property; *** the degree of force is immaterial." Rev. Laws, § 6427.
The state did not contend upon the trial that appellant used actual force in perpetrating the crime, but constructive force, in that he administered poison to one Cooper with the intention of producing unconsciousness, and while Cooper was in that condition took money from a cash register in the saloon of which the latter had charge.
Appellant contends that under our statute defining "robbery" there can be no such thing as constructive force. Force was an essential element in both robbery and rape at common law, and is so by statute, except in rape where carnal knowledge is had of a female under the age of consent; but it has been held in this state, in England, and in some of the other states, that the force used in perpetrating the crime of rape may be constructive as well as actual. In the case of Queen v. Camplin, 1 Cox Crim. Law Cas. 220, 1 Car. & K. 746, 1 Denison Crim. Cas. 89, wherein the defendant gave a young girl liquor for the purpose of exciting her passions, and not with the intention of causing intoxication, but from which she became intoxicated, and while she was in that condition and insensible he had carnal intercourse with her, the court said that:
"The case therefore falls within the description of those cases in which force and violence constitute the crime, but in which fraud is held to supply the want of both."
In Lewis v. State, 30 Ala. 54, 68 Am. Dec. 113, it was said:
In Pomeroy v. State, 94 Ind. 96, 48 Am. Rep. 146, wherein the defendant had been convicted of rape, the court said:
' .
In another rape case the Supreme Court of Wisconsin says:
Quinn v. State, 153 Wis. 573, 142 N.W. 510, 46 L. R. A. (N. S.) 422.
This court, in considering a case wherein the defendant was convicted of an attempt to commit rape, after reviewing the authorities wherein it had been held that the force necessary to constitute rape might be constructive, said:
State v. Lung, 21 Nev. 209, 28 P. 235, 37 Am. St. Rep. 505.
It will be seen that the court, in the last-mentioned case, held that one of two things would constitute constructive force, namely, (a) the destroying of the woman's power of resistance by administering liquors or drugs, or (b) the taking advantage of the fact that the woman was already in the condition in which the mental or physical ability to resist was wanting. See, also, Hirdes v. Cross, Ottawa Circuit Judge, 174 Mich. 321, 146 N.W. 646, 52 L. R. A. (N. S.) 373; Rahke v. State, 168 Ind. 615, 81 N.E. 584.
We are unable to see why a different rule should be established in a case wherein robbery is charged and in which force is an essential element, than in a case wherein rape is the charge, wherein force is likewise an essential element. If constructive force may be used in the one case, why not in the other? No satisfactory reason has been advanced why a different rule should exist, and we are unable to think of one worthy to be mentioned, and are therefore of the opinion that the trial court did not err in holding that constructive force was resorted to by appellant.
It is also contended in behalf of appellant that the evidence of the doctors shows that the condition in which Cooper was found could not have been caused by chloral hydrate, as contended by the state, for the reason that the witness Cooper testified that almost immediately upon drinking the beer testified to he became unconscious, because, as contended, chloral hydrate does not produce the condition of unconsciousness in which Cooper was found in less than 30 minutes, unless a dose is taken which will cause certain death. While one of the witnesses testified flatly that chloral hydrate would not produce unconsciousness in less than 30 minutes, Dr. Kistler, who had been called to attend Cooper, did not so testify; and, while his testimony was somewhat uncertain, he did state:
From an examination of the works of text-writers, it is apparent that what may be a medicinal dose for one person is a poisonous dose for another. In some instances a dose of 30 grains has proven fatal, while in other cases more than an ounce has been taken without ill effect. Reese, Med. Juris. & Tox. (8th Ed.) 573; Herold's Man. of Legal Medicine, p. 105.
Taylor, in his Principles of Medical Jurisprudence, vol. 1, p. 387, speaking of this drug, says:
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People v. Kelley, s. D008219
...or stupefaction; to act in this way is to use force for purposes of robbery.' [Citations.]" (Ibid.) The Dreas court found State v. Snyder (1918) 41 Nev. 453, 172 P. 364 to be persuasive authority. In Snyder, the defendant administered a drug to a bartender and, when the bartender became unc......
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State v. Ide
...of "constructive force," here; i.e., administering poison to render the victim unconscious to facilitate the crime. State v. Snyder, 41 Nev. 453, 172 P. 364 (1918); State v. Sawyer, 224 N.C. 61, 29 S.E.2d 34 (1944). Neither is this a case of a defendant using a fake or imaginary gun to make......
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Kinna v. State, 5536
...elements of a public offense, if proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The rule was well stated by this court in State v. Snyder, 41 Nev. 453, 461, 172 P. 364, 366 (1918): If the circumstances, all taken together, exclude to a moral certainty every hypothesis but the single one of guilt, and es......