Hawley v. Commonwealth
Supreme Court of Virginia
This case was heard at Wytheville, but was decided at Richmond. It was an indictment in the county court of Roanoke county against Marcus D. L. Hawley, Peter Hawley, and two others, for the hilling of Zachariah Hayes. The indictment contained four counts.
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This case was heard at Wytheville, but was decided at Richmond. It was an indictment in the county court of Roanoke county against Marcus D. L. Hawley, Peter Hawley, and two others, for the hilling of Zachariah Hayes. The indictment contained four counts. The fourth count, after charging Marcus D. L. Hawley with the murder of Zachariah Hayes, concluded as follows: “And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do further present, that Peter Hawley, Calvin Hawley, and George Potter, of the county aforesaid, on the 18th day of June, in the year of our Lord 1879, with force and arms, in…
1Opinion of the CourtAnderson, J.
The prisoner, was indicted as an accessory before the fact with the principal felon, and was convicted of murder in the second degree, as charged in the indictment—that is, as an accessory. If he had been present aiding and abetting in the murder, he would have been principal in the second degree, and could not have been convicted as accessory. But the jury found him guilty of murder in the second degree, as charged in the indictment—that is, as accessory before the fact.
It was not error to indict one as principal and ‘the other as accessory in the same indictment. Ohitty gives a precedent…
2Cited by9 opinions
- McGhee v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1980
- State v. HaskinsWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1923
- Johnson v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1904
- Staples v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1924
- Hunter v. StateSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1912
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