Goff v. State

Citations

• 60 Fla. 13

Syllabus

<p>1. An information or indictment should state a prima facie ease; and where the exclusion of any matter constitutes an essential and affirmative element of the offense charged, such matter should be negatived in the allegations. Matters that are not essential elements of the offense, but are in the nature of a defense need not be negatived in charging the offense.</p> <p>2. An intent to injure the insurer of the building is not an element of the offense defined in section 3276 of the General Statutes, and the offense defined' in section 3278 is a substantive crime, therefore an information under section 3276 need not negative that the building was burned with intent to injure the insurer of the building.</p> <p>3. In a prosecution under section 3276 of the General Statutes of 1906, an allegation that the'“building was then and there the property of” a named person is sufficient as to the ownership of the building, and the description of the building as “a business house * used and occupied as a meat market” is sufficient.</p> <p>4. Alleged errors in tlie admission or rejection of testimony which do not weaken the effect of testimony properly admitted, and which do not reach the legality of the trial itself, will not cause a reversal of a judgment of conviction where the legal evidence admitted leaves no room for reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt.</p>