28 Mont. 18 | Mont. | 1903
prepared tbe opinion for tbe court.
On tbe 26tb day of September, 1901, an information was filed against tbe defendant in Valley county, charging him with tbe crime of murder in the first degree* for killing Charles Snearly in that county.
Tbe defendant was apprehended and arrested on or about tbe 11th day of September, and placed in jail at the county seat of said county on or about tbe 12th day of tbe same month, where be remained continuously until tbe time of bis trial. On November 27, 1901, counsel for tbe defense called tbe attention of tbe trial court to tbe fact that tbe defendant was, in bis judgment, mentally incompetent to furnish bis counsel with any of tbe facts necessary in tbe preparation of bis defense. Tbe court thereupon made an order requesting that Drs. Hoyt, Clay, Meminger, and Atkinson, four regularly licensed and practicing physicians in said county, examine tbe defendant as to bis sanity. This examination was made on tbe 28th day of November, and the physicians SQ' appointed reported ix> tbe court that they found the defendant physically broken down from the use of morphine and opium, but that be was at tbe time of said examination mentally sound. Tbe trial was then proceeded with, tbe defense being insanity; it being sought to be shown that tbe defendant’s mental derangement took the form, of homicidal monomania. A verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree was rendered. Judgment sentencing de
Two assignments of error are contained in the record: First, that the record fails to show that the offense was committed in Valley county; second, that the court erred in refusing to grant a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence.
1. The record before us contains all the evidence in the cause. On the first assignment of error, we find these material facts established: Mrs. Ali.ce Smith, a witness- on behalf of the state, testifies: “I am the wife of T. P. Smith, called ‘Doc Smith.’ My residence is about eighteen or twenty miles north of Culbertson, in this county and state. I was at home at my house on the 9th of September of this year, and know the defendant, William El Hardee. I know Charles. Snearly.” The witness then proceeds to relate the circumstances of the killing, which occurred there on the evening, of that day. She further says that she started to Culbertson that evening with the men who were taking the deceased in, and continued with them1 until she met her husband, when she came back home with him. Fred Wagar, another witness on the part of the state, testifies: “My home is in North D'akota. The early part of last September I was in the state of Montana, on Doe Smith’s ranch, near Culbertson, in this county.” The witness then proceeds to detail the circumstances of - the killing as it occurred there at Smith’s place on the 9th day of September. J. P. Smith testifies: “My name is J. P. Smith. I live fifteen miles from Culbertson. Mrs. Smith, a witness in this case, is my wife. . I live north of Culbertson, in Valley county, state of Montana. On or about the 9th of September of this year I was at Culbertson. I went home that night or the next morning. On the way home I met the wagon bringing Snearly into town. I went on home, and my wife did also. * * * When I got home that night I don’t think I went into- that west
2. The defendant’s contention that he is entitled to a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence, establishing the. fact that he was insane at the'time of the commission of this offense, calls for a brief review of the actions of the defendant at the time of, and subsequent to', the killing. It appears from the testimony: that the defendant and the deceased came to' the ranch of Mr. Smith some time in August, 1901, and, after remaining there several days, went away. They returned there on the morning of the 9th of September. The defendant’s first inquiry of Mrs. Smith was whether the deceased had said anything to her about their trip. The defendant then told Mrs. Smith that they had been out after some horses, and were driving them to market; that they had been without food for some time; that he had shot a chicken; and that the boy (referring to the deceased, who- was about 1Y years of age) was pretty hungry, and insisted upon stopping to cook the chicken; that the defendant insisted upon continuing their drive of the horses until 12 o’clock, but that, at the instance of Snearly, they stopped and cooked the chicken, and while they were doing it the horses got away from them. This made the defendant very angry, and he threatened to kill Snearly, and stated that he did not kill him at that time because the boy begged so hard, and he thought he would wait until he got where he could have a decent burial. That in the afternoon of September 9th the defendant, the deceased, and one Jackson went hunting, returning to Mr. Smith’s place in the evening. That the deceased then busied himself with cleaning and oiling a revolver, and, after he had finished, rubbed his oily hands
The circumstances and facts attending this homicide show too much deliberation to' be the result of any sudden impulse, "but appear, rather, to be the result of anger occasioned by the deceased causing the defendant to lose the horses, and a fear on the part of defendant that the deceased might make some remark relative to some past transaction. This is evident from the solicitude of the defendant as to whether or not the deceased had “said anything — told anything.” The fact that the defendant has evidently been brooding over this affair, and has •expressed himself as very sorry that he had killed Snearly, is ■not compatible with the theory that the defendant was at the time of the killing afflicted with homicidal monomania. The
The facts which defendant wishes to- prove by his newly discovered evidence are cumulative, tending to prove the allegations of mental incapacity, which became- an issue on the trial, and in support of which defendant called witnesses who- testified, and are not such as to make it clearly probable that a different result would follow another trial; nor does it appear-
It appears from the record that the defendant had a fair and impartial trial, that he was ably defended, and that the court did not in any manner abuse its discretion in overruling the motion for a new trial.
We therefore recommend that the judgment and order appealed from be affirmed.
Per Curiam. — Por the reasons stated in the foregoing opinion, the judgment and order are affirmed.