State v. Witherington
| Decision Date | 20 March 1946 |
| Docket Number | No. 218.,218. |
| Citation | 226 N.C. 211,37 S.E.2d 497 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE. v. WITHERINGTON. |
Appeal from Superior Court, Wayne County; Leo. Carr, Judge.
Lloyd Witherington was convicted of kidnapping, and he appeals.
New trial.
Criminal prosecution upon indictment charging that defendant "unlawfully, wilfully and feloniously did forcibly kidnap and carry away Mary Simmons against the form of the statute in such case", etc.
Verdict: Guilty as charged in the bill of indictment.
Judgment: Confinement in the county jail for a term of two years assigned to work the roads under the supervision of the State Highway and Public Works Commission.
Defendant appeals therefrom to Supreme Court and assigns error.
Harry M. McMullan, Atty. Gen., Hughes J. Rhodes, Ralph M. Moody, and J. E Tucker, Asst. Attys. Gen., for the State.
George R. Britt and J. Faison Thomson, both of Goldsboro, for defendant-appellant.
Among the assignments of error brought forward by defendant on this appeal is that directed to the following portion of the charge given by the court to the jury: "If the State has satisfied you beyond a reasonable doubt from the evidence that the defendant on the day in question, to wit, the third day of March, 1945, did forcibly take and carry away the person of the prosecuting witness, Mary Simmons, from her home some distance from her home, it would be your duty to return a verdict of guilty of kidnapping as charged in the bill of indictment". We think the exception to this charge is well taken in that the definition of the offense, as given, is not complete.
The statute relating to kidnapping, G.S. § 14-39, provides, in pertinent part, that "it shall be unlawful for any person * * * to kidnap * * * any human being * * *." Thus it appears that the General Assembly in taking cognizance of the offense has not undertaken to define the word "kidnap" nor to give it expressly its technical common-law meaning. In fact this Court in the case of State v. Harrison, 145 N.C. 408, 59 S.E. 867, 870, declined to hold as erroneous the refusal of a request for instruction in which it was sought to give to the word "kidnap", as used in the statute, a technical meaning as at common law.
The word "kidnap", as defined by Webster, means: "To carry (anyone) away by unlawful force or by fraud, and against his will, or to seize and detain him for the purpose of so carrying him away". Moreover, in American Jurisprudence, the author, in treating of the subject, states that "the generally accepted basic element of the crime of kidnapping is the taking or detaining of a person against his will and without any lawful authority". 31...
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State v. Murphy
...486 (1963); Sutton v. State, 122 Ga. 158, 50 S.E. 60 (1905); State v. Walker, 139 Mont. 276, 362 P.2d 548 (1961); State v. Witherington, 226 N.C. 211, 37 S.E.2d 497 (1946). See 1 Am.Jur.2d, Abduction and Kidnapping, § 13; Annot., Kidnapping by fraud or false pretenses, 95 A.L.R.2d The princ......
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State v. Roberts
...situations in which convictions for kidnapping have been upheld include the following: State v. Kelly, Supra; State v. Witherington, 226 N.C. 211, 37 S.E.2d 497 (1946); State v. Streeton, 231 N.C. 301, 56 S.E.2d 649 (1949); State v. Dorsett, 245 N.C. 47, 95 S.E.2d 90 (1956); State v. Gough,......
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State v. Ingland
...by force or fraud or threats or intimidation; Or to seize and detain him for the purpose of so carrying him away. State v. Witherington, 226 N.C. 211, 37 S.E.2d 497 (1946); State v. Dorsett, 245 N.C. 47, 95 S.E.2d 90 (1956); State v. Gough, supra (257 N.C. 348, 126 S.E.2d 118). Later cases ......
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State v. Lowry, s. 437 and 438
...of other provisions (not pertinent here) were a direct result of the Lindbergh tragedy. G.S. § 14-39 does not define 'kidnap,' State v. Witherington, infra; it provides that 'It shall be unlawful for any person * * * to kidnap or cause to be kidnapped any human being * * *. Any person * * *......