WILLIAM PELLS, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, DEFENDANT IN ERROR
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The Florida Supreme Court reversed William Pells' burglary conviction because the indictment fatally failed to allege the ownership of the building that was burglarized, violating a well-settled rule of criminal procedure that the owner's name must be stated with accuracy in burglary charges.
The indictment is fatally defective. A burglary indictment must state with accuracy the name of the owner of the building broken and entered. Here, because ownership was not alleged and no owner was named, it could not be determined whether the defendant himself or someone else owned the building, and the indictment therefore failed to meet the essential requirements of criminal pleading.
“The name of the owner of the dwelling house or of the building which was broken and entered must be stated with accuracy.”
Establishes the controlling legal standard that ownership must be clearly and accurately alleged in burglary indictments
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn November 1882, a grand jury in Leon County indicted William Pells for breaking and entering the Main Exhibition Building of the Middle Florida Agri…
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Mr. Justice YanYaliienburgh
delivered the opinion of the court.
In November, 1882, the grand jury of Leon county found an indictment against William Pells, charging that he, on the twelfth day of January, A. D. 1881, “ with force and arms at, and in the county of Leon aforesaid, a certain building, to wit: the Main Exhibition Building of the Middle Florida Agricultural and Mechanical Fair Association, there situated, in the night time of said day, to wit: at about the hour of nine o’clock at night, feloniously and burglariously did bi-eak and enter with intent to commit a felony, to wit: to steal, take and carry away goods and chattels of the value of more than twenty dollars,” &c., &c. The defendant was tried and found guilty. lie moved for a new trial upon several grounds, among which was, that: “ There was no evidence before the jury to show the ownership of the building into which the breaking and entry are alleged to have been made. It was not shown to have been the property of any individual or individuals or of any corporation, and was conceded by the State Attorrney not to have been the property of a corporation but of th.e people living all over Middle Florida.” 'The motion was denied and the defendant duly excepted.
The defendant by his counsel then made a motion in arrest of judgment on several grounds, the only ones of which it is necessary to consider ai’e similar to the one above noted in the motion for a new tria1, viz :
“ That the said indictment does not allege the ownership of said building, and does not set forth the name of any owner or owners thereof.”
“ That said indictment does not allege the ownership of said building to have been in any corporation.”
The motion in arrest of judgment was denied and the defendant brings his writ of error. The indictment is bad, and the motion in arrest of judgment should have been granted. It contains but a single count, in which the building is described as “ The Main Exhibition Building of the Middle Florida Agricultural and Mechanical Fair Association.” The ownership of the property is defectively stated. There is no allegation that such Association is incorporated. If it belonged to an unincorporated Association, the individuals comprising such Association are the owners, and their several names should have appeared in the indictment as such owners. If the ownership of the property is not stated, non constat but that the building was the property of the defendant, or that he was part owner as one of the Association. The rule is well settled that the ownershi]} of the building so burglariously entered must be alleged. “ The name of the owner of the dwelling house or of the building which was broken and entered must be stated with accuracy.” Heard’s Criminal Law, 436; 1 Bishop on Crim. Proc., §583; 1 Wharton Crim. L., §816; Beale vs. The State, 53 Ala., 460; State of Kansas vs. Fockler, 22 Kan., 542; State vs. Morrissey, 22 Iowa, 158; Wallace vs. State of Illinois, 63 Ill., 451; Jackson vs. The State, 55 Wis., 589; Com. vs. Perris, 108 Mass., 1.
The indictment in this case is fatally defective and the judgment is arrested and the defendant ordered to be discharged from imprisonment oh the indictment, judgment and sentence herein.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Roy Smith alias Tom Green v. State, 96 Fla. 30 (Fla. 1928)…of the variance between the allegation and proof as to ownership. Under the statutes denouncing burglarious entering the allegation of ownership of the building alleged to have been entered is material and must be proved as laid. See Pells v. State, 20 Fla. 774; Burns v. State, 89 Fla. 494, 104 So. R. 783; Smith v. State, 80 Fla. 315, 85 So. R. 911; Vincent v. State, 66 Fla. 197, 63 So. R. 423; Davis v. State, 51 Fla. 37, 40 So. R. 179, Potter v. State, 91 Fla. 938, 109 So. R. 91. Reversed. Whitfield, Te…
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Davis v. State, 54 Fla. 34 (Fla. 1907)…the second time this case has been here. See Davis v. State, 51 Fla. 37, 40 South. Rep. 179. The first assignment is based upon the overruling of the motion to quash the indictment, and in support thereof, Davis v. State, supra, and Pells v. State, 20 Fla. 774, are relied upon. This position is untenable, as the ownership of the building is sufficiently alleged in the indictment, as a reading of the former opinion rendered in the case will clearly show. Also see authorities cited in Vol. 8, Century Digest…
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Burnes v. State, 89 Fla. 494 (Fla. 1925)…ment which contains no allegation of ownership of the building is fatally defective and judgment thereon will upon motion be arrested. Vicente v. State, 66 Fla. 197, 63 South. Rep. 423; Davis v. State, 51 Fla. 37, 40 South. Rep. 179; Pells v. State, 20 Fla. 774. And an allegation that a building broken and entered is the property of the estate of a person deceased is insufficient. It amounts to an omission to allege ownership, since title to property ceases at death and vests in the heirs or representative…
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