WILLIAM JACOBS, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, DEFENDANT IN ERROR
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William Jacobs was convicted of carnal abuse of a female child and sentenced to death. The Florida Supreme Court reversed his conviction because of a fatal variance between the indictment, which named the victim as "Rosa Lee Nelson," and the proof at trial, which established her name as "Rosa Lee Ann" with no evidence she was known by the surname "Nelson."
The conviction must be reversed because the name of the person assaulted is an essential element in the legal description of the offense, and the State failed to prove the surname "Nelson" as alleged in the indictment. The variance was fatal and could not be sustained, though the conviction could have been upheld if proof had shown the victim was known by both names or if her name was "Rosa Lee Ann Nelson."
“The name of the person assaulted as alleged in the indictment was an essential element in the legal description of the offense, and the failure to prove it as laid is fatal to the conviction had.”
Establishes the core principle that the victim's name as stated in the indictment is an essential element that must be proved as alleged
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJacobs was indicted, tried, and convicted of carnal abuse of a female child under age ten at the spring 1903 term of the Marion County Circuit Court. …
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Taylor, C. J.
The plaintiff in error, William Jacobs, was indicted, tried and convicted of the crime of carnal abuse of a female child under the age of ten years, at the spring term, 1903, of the Circuit Court for Marion county, was sentenced to death and seeks reversal here by writ of error. The error assigned is the denial of the defendant’s motion for a new trial. The fifth ground of this motion is as follows: “Because of a fatal variance between the allegation and the proof in said cause, in this, that the indictment charges the offense to have been committed on one Rosa Lee Nelson, and the testimony by the prosecuting witness was that her name was Rosa Lee Ann, and there is no testimony on part of the State showing that said prosecuting witness was known by the name of Rosa Lee Nelson, it appearing in evidence that the mother of said witness is Lydia Coruthers.”
This ground of the motion was well founded, and the court erred in denying it upon such ground. The indictment alleges that the crime was committed upon one Rosa Lee Nelson, and practically the only evidence as to the name of the person assaulted and abused was from such person herself as follows: "Q. What is your name? A. Rosa Lee. Q. Rosalie Nelson? A. Rosa Lee Ann.”
There was no proof that she was known by the surname of “Nelson,” as alleged in the indictment. The name of the person assaulted as alleged in the indictment.was an essential element in the legal description of the offense, and the failure to prove it as laid is fatal to the conviction had. McFarland v. State, 154 Ind. 442, 56 N. E. Rep. 910; Regina v. Dent, 2 Cox Cr. Cas. 354; Regina v. Frost, Dearsly’s Crown Cas. 474; Jackson v. State, 55 Wis. 589, 13 N. W. Rep. 448; English v. State, 30 Texas App. 470, 18 S. W. Rep. 94; Perry v. State, 4 Texas App. 566; Davis v. People, 19 Ill. 74; Penrod v. People, 89 Ill. 150; Hensley v. Commonwealth, 1 Bush (Ky.) 11, S. C. 89 Am. Dec. 604.
.Piad the proofs shown that the party injured was known and called by both names, viz: “Rosa Lee Nelson,” as alleged, and “Rosa Lee Ann,” as proved, or that her name was “Rosa Lee Ann Nelson,” the conviction could have been sustained, notwithstanding the fact that the indictment omitted the middle Christian name “Ann.” But because of the failure to prove the surname “Nelson” as laid in the indictment, the proof fails to sustain the charge as made by such indictement. Burroughs v. State, 17 Fla. 643.
The judgment of the court below is reversed and a new trial ordered, the cost of this appellate proceeding to be taxed against the county of Marion.
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Talton A. Branch v. State, 94 Fla. 286 (Fla. 1927)…e person assaulted was Henry C. Beaty. The name of the person assaulted as alleged in the indictment is an essential element in the legal description of the offense, and the failure to prove it as laid is fatal to a conviction had. Jacobs v. State, 46 Fla. 157, 35 South. Rep. 65. In a prosecution for assault with intent to commit murder where it is shown that the person assaulted was as well known by the name alleged in the information as by his true name, the variance between the allegation and the proo…1 / 2
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Belle Thomas alias Belle Manning v. State, 49 Fla. 123 (Fla. 1905)…he testimony shows that the person killed was known and called by the name alleged in the indictment a conviction will not be set aside because there was testi [*126] mony that the deceased was also known and called by another name. Jacobs v. State, 46 Fla. 157, 35 South. Rep. 65. The only other contention under the third assignment or error is that the verdict should in view of the evidence have been manslaughter and not murder in the second degree. The evidence showed that the defendant and the deceased…
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Holborough v. State, 103 So. 3d 221 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012)…ion.2 The dual rationale for this rule is that it “inform[s] the defendant of the charge against him and ... protects] him against another prosecution for the same offense.” Raulerson v. State, 358 So. 2d 826, 830 (Fla.1978). [*224] Jacobs v. State, 46 Fla. 157, 35 So. 65 (1903), is an early case establishing the identity of the victim as an essential element of a crime against a person. There the defendant was charged with “carnal abuse of a female child.” Id. at 65. The indictment charged the offense to…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Burroughs v. State, 17 Fla. 643 (Fla. 1880)