Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

53 Miss. 384

Dick v. State

Mississippi Supreme Court

Decided October 15, 1876

Mississippi Supreme Court · decided 1876-10-15

Hon. WVB. Cunningham, Judge. The indictment was insufficient, and could not support the verdict. Lewis v. State, 49 Miss. 355. The indictment is good at common law, both in form and substance. Code 1871, § 2864; 2 Bishop Criminal Procedure, §§ 50, 51, 52 and note; 2 Russell on Crimes, 563, 564.

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently October 1908

1 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1876-10-15

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Campbell, J.,

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2The plaintiff in error was indicted, tried and convicted of arson, and sentenced to imprisonment for life in the penitentiary. The indictment is not good under § 2490 of the Code, because it does not aver that the arson was in the night-time, or that there was at the time some human being usually staying, lodging or residing at night. It was, therefore, erroneous to sentence the convict to imprisonment for life. But the indictment is good under § 2494 of the Code, and the convict should have been sentenced under that section, which embraces the case of wilfully setting fire to “ any other house or building not embraced and provided for in the preceding sections.” A dwelling-house not occupied by some human being is not embraced in and provided for by the preceding sections, and is covered by § 2494.

¶3There is no complaint that the verdict is wrong. The indictment is sufficient under § 2494, but the judgment is wrong. We therefore reverse the judgment, but leave the verdict unaffected, and remand the case for the Circuit Court to render judgment under § 2494 of the Code.

/53/miss/384 · .json · Public domain