Utterback v. State

• Court: Indiana Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Dowling, J.
• Citation: Utterback v. State, 153 Ind. 545, 55 N.E. 420 (Ind. 1899)
• Decision Date: 28 November 1899
• Docket Number: 19,044
• Parties: Utterback v. The State

55 N.E. 420

153 Ind. 545

Utterback v. The State

No. 19,044

Supreme Court of Indiana

November 28, 1899

From the Lawrence Circuit Court.

Affirmed.

S. B Lowe, J. E. Boruff and J. H. Underwood, for appellant.

Wm. L Taylor, Attorney-General, J. A. Zaring, John R. East and McHenry Owen, for State.

OPINION

Dowling, J.

Appellant and one Stella Cooper were prosecuted upon affidavit and information for the crime of conspiring together to extort money from one Everett Sheeks by filing an affidavit against him before a justice of the peace of Lawrence county, in this State, feloniously accusing and charging the said Sheeks with a criminal assault upon the said Stella Cooper, with the felonious intent to extort the sum of $ 500 from the said Sheeks. Upon the trial both defendants were convicted. Utterback appealed.

A motion to quash the information having been made and overruled below, it is urged here that the information is insufficient because it charges that the defendants conspired together to commit the crime, commonly known as blackmailing by filing an affidavit against Everett Sheeks accusing him of an assault with intent to commit a felony; whereas, the statute does not extend to a case where an affidavit is filed before an officer having jurisdiction of the offense set forth in the affidavit.

The prosecution is under the following section of the criminal code: §§ 2260 Burns 1894, § 2139 Horner 1897. "Any person or persons who shall unite or combine with any other person or persons for the purpose of committing a felony; or any person or persons who shall knowingly unite with any other person or persons, or body or association or combination of persons, whose object is the commission of a felony or felonies, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined, etc."

Section 1999 Burns 1894, § 1926 Horner 1897: "Whoever, either verbally or by any letter or writing or any written or printed communication, demands of any person, with menaces of personal injury, any chattel, money, or other valuable security; or whoever accuses or threatens to accuse, or knowingly sends or delivers any letter or writing or any written or printed communication, with or without a name subscribed thereto, or signed with a fictitious name; or with any letter, mark, or designation, accusing or threatening to accuse any person of any crime punishable by law, or of any immoral conduct, which, if true, would tend to degrade and disgrace such person, or in any way to subject him to the ridicule or contempt of society; or to do any injury to the person or property of any one, with intent to extort or gain from such person any chattel, money, or valuable security, or any pecuniary advantage whatsoever; or with any intent to compel the person threatened to do any act against his will, with the intent aforesaid, is guilty of blackmailing, and shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned," etc.

So much of the latter section as it is necessary to consider here may be stated in these words: Whoever accuses any person of any crime punishable by law, with intent to extort or gain from such person any chattel, money, or valuable security, is guilty of blackmailing, and shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned, etc.

It is said in the argument for the appellant, that, "It is not a case of threatening to accuse Sheeks of rape; it is not a case of writing any letter, or communication, with the intent to extort money from him; it is not a case of telling him that he is guilty of rape, and that if he does not pay money he will be charged with crime, or exposed in some way. * * * We think the word accuse, as used in the statute, has reference to a verbal accusation. * * * We think under this statute there are two ways of accusing or threatening to accuse; one is to verbally accuse, or threaten to accuse, and another is to accuse by letter or writing, with or without a name subscribed thereto, or fictitiously signed."

It will be observed that the several clauses of § 1999 Burns are in the disjunctive, and the meaning of the act is thereby rendered...