10 Or. 505 | Or. | 1883
By the Court,
The appellant was indicted jointly with John Barnard for
Counsel for appellant excepted to this instruction — the only exception they urged at the argument. The objection is that the appellant should not have been convicted as an aider and abettor unless charged as such in the indictment, and counsel cite sec. 11 of art. 1 of the state constitution, that the accused shall have the right to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and see. 69, 3fl9 Gen. Laws, that the indictment shall contain a statement of the facts constituting the offense.
' The accused is informed of the nature and cause of the accusation when he receives a copy of the indictment, charging the offense according to the principles of the common law; and an indictment so drawn states the acts constituting the offense within the meaning of the statute. The acts constituting the offense are stated when they are stated according to their legal effect. Thus: “If A, B and C are indicted for killing J. G., and that A struck him, and
We confine ourselves to tbe case before us, in which a like conviction, on a like indictment, would have been good at common law. It is not necessary to determine whether tbe defendant may have been convicted on' tbis indictment on evidence tbat be was an accessory before tbe fact. It follows tbat tbe instruction was correct.
Judgment affirmed.