51 Mo. App. 293 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1892
The information charges that the defendant “did unlawfully and wilfully disquiet and disturb a congregation of persons met for religious worship within the place of meeting, to-wit, at the Methodist Episcopal church, in the town of Oentralia, in Boone county, Missouri, by then and there wilfully menacing, threatening, assaulting one Henry W. Sageser, a person then and there being,” etc. The circuit court sustained a motion to quash the information upon these grounds: First, that the information did not charge the offense to have been done maliciously or contemptuously; second, that it did not charge that the disturbance was done at a place set apart for religious worship; third, that it was so vague and indefinite that it did not inform defendant with certainty when the offense was committed, nor could it be pleaded in bar of another prosecution; and, fourth, that it failed to disclose the manner of the disturbance. The appeal is prosecuted here by the state.
The statute upon which the information is based provides that “Every person who shall wilfully, maliciously or contemptuously disquiet or disturb any camp meeting, congregation or other assembly met for religious worship, or when meeting at the place of worship or dispersing therefrom, making a noise or by rude or indecent behavior or profane discourse within the place of assembly, or so near the same as to interrupt or disturb the order or solemnity thereof, or who shall wilfully menace or assault any person then and there being, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.” Revised Statutes, sec. 3785.
As to the defendant’s third objection, it is sufficient to say that whether the act charged was committed at the “Methodist Episcopal' church” or the “Methodist Episcopal church, South” is a question of fact that does not arise in determining the question of the sufficiency of the information. And, as to the defendant’s fourth and last objection, nothing more need be said than that the information very clearly charges at least two acts, either of which constitutes a misdemeanor under the terms of the statute. State v. Daniel, 40 Mo. App. 356.
But, even if the information were defective in the particulars claimed by defendant, still it set forth a complete description of such facts and circumstances as constituted an assault, both at common law and under the statute. Revised Statutes, sec. 3492. And, if it be conceded that the indictment is bad in charging a crime under the statute, it was sufficient for an assault at common law, or under the statute, upon the subject of the breach of the peace. State v. Phipps, 34 Mo.
In the view which we have taken it must follow that the circuit court erred in quashing the information, .and that the judgment must be reversed and the cause .remanded.