People v. Shuler

By the Court,

Currey, J. The defendant was indicted with several others by the G-rand Jury of Butte County for thé crime of robbing Charles A. Wyckoff of three hundred dollars in money and eighty-five ounces of gold dust of the value of fifteen hundred dollars, and three leather purses of the value of seventy-five cents, which the indictment alleges was the property of one B. F. Whiting. To this indictment the defendant demurred on the ground that the facts stated therein do not constitute a public offense, specifying particularly wherein. The demurrer was overruled and the defendant pleaded not guilty. He was afterwards tried and found guilty, and sentenced to be imprisoned in the State Prison for the term of ten years.

I. The objection made to the indictment the defendant’s counsel insists should have been sustained by the Court. The fifty-ninth section of the Act concerning crimes and punishments defines robbery as follows : “Robbéry is the felonious and violent taking of money, goods or other valuable thing from the person of another by force or intimidation.” This in no material respect is different from the common law definition of the crime of robbery. If the offense is charged essentially and substantially as it is defined by the statute then the indictment must be regarded as sufficient. The Act to regulate proceedings in criminal cases requires that the indictment shall contain a statement of the acts constituting the offense. The party accused must be charged directly, and the offense must be charged in the same unequivocal manner, together with the particular" circumstances of it when necessary to constitute a complete offense. (Laws 1851, pp. 237, 238.)

[493]The indictment charges that the defendants, on a certain day, at a particular place in Butte County, “ upon Charles A. Wyckoff did feloniously make an assault and him put in fear and danger of his life, and from his person and control, and against his will, did feloniously, forcibly and violently steal, take and carry away certain property arid money,” which is particularly described of a specified value, alleging the same to be “the property and money of B. F. Whiting.” It is claimed on the part of the defendant that the indictment is bad because it is not stated therein that the property was taken from the person or presence of the owner or against his will, or without his knowledge and consent; and further, because it is not stated that Wyckoff had the right of possession -of the property, or was in the peaceable possession of it, when it was taken.