State v. . Barnes

Citations

• 29 S.E. 381
• 122 N.C. 1031
• 1898 N.C. LEXIS 392

Syllabus

<p>Indictment for Assault with Intent to Commit Rape— Indictment, Sufficiency of — Motion to Arrest— Verdict.</p> <p>1. The Act of 1811 (Code, Section 1183) was intended to uphold the execution of public justice by freeing the Courts from the fetters of form, technicality and Refinement which do not concern the substance of the charge and the proof to support it.</p> <p>2. An indictment charging that defendant “unlawfully and feloniously • did make an assault, and her, the said C., then and there forcibly, violently and against her will, then and there feloniously to abuse, ravish and carnally know” constitutes a plain charge of assault with intent to rape; and where defendant asks for instructions to the jury pertinent to that crime and makes no objection to the evidence or the charge of the Court thereon, the omission of the words “with intent” from the indictment is not ground for arrest of judgment, since Section 1183 of The Code forbids arrest of judgment by “ reason of any informality or refinement.”</p> <p>3. While Oil. 68, Acts of 1885, permits a verdict for an assault when it is embraced in the charge of a greater offense, as rape or other felony, a verdict simply of “guilty”, and not specifying a lower offense, is a verdict of guilty of the offense charged in the indictment. Eaircloth, C. J., dissents.</p>