75 S.W.2d 69 | Ark. | 1934
Appellant, who is serving a life sentence in the penitentiary, was indicted, convicted and sentenced to ten years imprisonment for permitting a convict to escape, the charging part of the indictment being as follows: "The said defendant, Earl Decker, in the county, district and State aforesaid, on the 5th day of February, 1934, then and there having in custody one B.R. Ballard a convict who had been lawfully convicted for a felony and who had been lawfully sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary, did unlawfully, feloniously, wilfully and corruptly suffer, connive at and permit the escape of the said B.R. Ballard, against the peace and dignity of the State of Arkansas."
The undisputed facts are that appellant, a trusty convict, was sent by the penitentiary authorities to Fort Smith to bring to the penitentiary four convicted felons in a truck. After arriving in Fort Smith, he visited with some women whose husbands were in the penitentiary and proceeded to become more or less intoxicated. He finally went to the jail, received the prisoners, locked them in the truck, and left with them. He then returned to the place where he had been drinking, secured more liquor, took the prisoners and his lady friend riding with him into the drinking establishment where they all became further intoxicated. After a time they finally left with the prisoners properly locked up in the truck and started for Little Rock. After driving some distance, he decided to return for more refreshments, and on this *741 trip Ballard escaped by crawling through a torn place in the curtain inclosing the truck where the prisoners were kept. At the conclusion of the testimony a directed verdict of not guilty was requested and refused.
Appellant was convicted under the following statute, 2584, Crawford Moses' Digest: "Any person who shall wilfully or corruptly suffer, connive at, or permit the escape of any convict sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than five nor more than ten years." Several errors are assigned and argued for a reversal of the judgment and sentence, but we find it necessary to discuss only one of them, that is, that the court should have directed a verdict for appellant.
Under the above statute, the appellant must have "wilfully or corruptly" suffered, connived at, or permitted Ballard to escape in order to be guilty of the offense. It is conceded by the State that it was not "wilfully" done, but it is insisted that it was "corruptly" done. This is a criminal statute, highly penal, and must be strictly construed. In Atkinson v. State,
In Jones v. State,
One of the definitions in Bouvier's Law Dictionary of the word "corruption," of which the word "corruptly" is the adverb, includes bribery. The word "corruptly" implies knowledge, for a thing could not be done corruptly and ignorantly at the same time. The word "wilfully" means intentionally or by design. Aubrey v. State,
Appellant's conduct was highly improper and perhaps grossly negligent. But it isn't shown that this caused the escape of the prisoner or contributed to it. The undisputed proof shows that the prisoners were locked in the truck by appellant, and that he threatened them with his pistol, warning them against any attempt at escape. The fact that one had escaped was discovered a few minutes thereafter, and he immediately began a search. He returned the other prisoners to jail and gave the alarm, and a search was instituted. The prisoner was recaptured a few days later and taken to the penitentiary.
We are therefore of the opinion that the evidence fails to establish the charge within the meaning of the statute. The judgment will be reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial.
SMITH, J., dissents.