Coates v. People

Citations

• 72 Ill. 303

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal law—indictment for murder. It is not a physical impossibility for three persons to have the same stick in their several right hands at the time a blow is strack with it, and an indictment for murder which so charges is good, and a plea of guilty to such an indictment admits the fact to be as charged.</p> <p>2. Same—indictment against accessories. Where an indictment charges that three persons, named, with a stick of wood which each severally had and held in their several right hands, inflicted a mortal wound, causing death, proof that either one of them struck the fatal blow with the weapon described, and that the others were accessory to the fact, will be sufficient to sustain a conviction of all three as principals. There would he no variance in such a case between the proof and the allegations in the indictment.</p> <p>8. Same—power of court on plea of guilty of manslaughter. Where a defendant pleads guilty to the crime of manslaughter, the coiu't has the same power to fix the punishment that a jury have when they find the defendant guilty on a trial.</p>