54 S.C. 178 | S.C. | 1899
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The indictment under which these defendants were tried contains three counts. In the first, the offense charged was riot; in the second, the offense charged was assault with intent to kill; and in the third count, the offense charged was disturbing a religious congregation. In the first count, the offense was alleged to have been committed “at Countsville African Methodist Episcopal Church, in the county of Lexington and State aforesaid;” in the second count, the offense was alleged to have been committed “at Lexington Court House, in the State aforesaid;” and the third count, the offense was alleged to have been committed “at Countsville African Methodist Episcopal Church, in the county of Lexington and State of South Carolina”- — all on the same day, to wit: the 20th of June, 1897. When the case was called for trial, the defendants moved to quash the indictment upon the ground that it
The only remaining question to be considered is the third— whether there was error of law in imposing the same sentence upon each of the three defendants. It is not pretended that the Circuit Judge exceeded the prescribed limits of punishment for each or any of the offenses charged in the indictment; and as long as he keeps within those limits, the amount of the punishment imposed in any given case, is purely discretionary with the Circuit Judge. Such discretion is to be measured by the circumstances of each particular case; and this Court has no means of ascertaining whether such discretion has been properly
The judgment of this Court is, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be affirmed.