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3 Ky. Op. 76

Commonwealth v. Jacobs

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

Decided December 9, 1868

Court of Appeals of Kentucky · decided 1868-12-09

<p>Criminal Law — Disturbing Religious Worship — Sufficiency of Indictment.</p> <p>An indictment for disturbing religious worship, without stating how, is not sufficiently specific to notify the accused of the character of the proof he will have to repel, or so to identify the offense as to make the judgment a bar to another prosecution for the same act.</p>

Decided 1868-12-09

¶1Opinion of the Court by

Judge Robertson:

¶2An indictment for disturbing religious worship without stating how is not sufficiently specific to notify the accused of the character of the proof he will have to repel, or so to identify the offense as to make a judgment a bar to another prosecution for the same act of disturbance; and some specifications of the facts constituting the misdemeanor is necessary to enable the court, on demurrer, to decide whether, the facts being admitted, the law has been violated. Unlike “keeping a tippling house,” “disturbing religious worship” has no inherent or defined import.

¶3Wherefore the indictment charging only a deduction from unstated facts is insufficient and the demurrer to it was properly sustained.

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