State v. Fillpot

Citations

• 51 Wash. 223
• 98 P. 659
• 1908 Wash. LEXIS 1001

Syllabus

<p>Homicide — Murder in the First Degree — Indictment—Duplicity —Statutes—Construction. Under Bal. Code, § 7035, making it murder in the first degree to kill another purposely and of deliberate and premeditated malice, or in the perpetration or attempt to perpetrate any rape, arson, robbery or burglary, an information is not bad for duplicity in alleging, in the language of the statute, a killing, purposely and of deliberate and premeditated malice and while engaged in the perpetration and attempt to perpetrate the crimes of robbery and burglary; in view of Bal. Code, § 6800, abolishing all forms of pleading, and § 6850, providing that no information shall be deemed insufficient if the crime is set forth in ordinary language in such a manner that a person of ordinary understanding may know what was intended.</p> <p>Same — Information—'Definiteness. Under Bal. Code, § 7035, making it murder in the first degree to kill another while in the perpetration or attempt to perpetrate a rape, arson, robbery, burglary, etc., it is not necessary to state the details of the acts included in the crimes of robbery and burglary alleged, but it is sufficient to allege the perpetration or attempt to commit any of the included crimes in the language of the statute.</p> <p>Same — Evidence—Of Venue — Sufficiency. Where there was circumstantial evidence sufficient to justify the jury in finding that the deceased, who was last seen alive in Spokane county, had been killed in that county and his body thrown into a river forming the boundary line and had floated down and lodged on the other side of the river, in Stevens county, the fact that the body was found in Stevens county would not show want of jurisdiction in the superior court of Spokane county, or that the crime had been committed in Stevens county.</p> <p>Criminal Law — Evidence—Exhibits—Samples, of Handwriting —Genuineness—Competency. Where the accused denied the writing of a note tacked upon the cabin of the deceased the morning