State v. Cubberly
New York Court of General Session of the Peace
Indictment for Malicious Mischief At the trial the state proved that the prosecuting witness, Margaret Chappelle, having previously had trouble with the defendant, left her home on Market Street, in the City of Wilmington, Delaware, leaving in the back yard of the house in which she and Cubberly, the defendant, separately lived as tenants, a cupboard of small intrinsic value which she prized highly as a family heirloom, and that while she was away, the defendant hired a…
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Indictment for Malicious Mischief At the trial the state proved that the prosecuting witness, Margaret Chappelle, having previously had trouble with the defendant, left her home on Market Street, in the City of Wilmington, Delaware, leaving in the back yard of the house in which she and Cubberly, the defendant, separately lived as tenants, a cupboard of small intrinsic value which she prized highly as a family heirloom, and that while she was away, the defendant hired a colored man to clean out the back yard- and told him that by way of compensation for his work he could break up the box…
1Opinion of the Court
Woolley, J.,
charging the jury:
[1] Gentlemen of the jury:—The offense for which this defendant is indicted is not a statutory offense in this state, but it is an offense that had its origin at common law. It possesses several elements which must be proven to secure a conviction, the principal one being the element of malice. In every trespass that amounts to malicious mischief, there must be malice of a certain character, that is, a certain malignity, which, when it inspires mischief, results in damage to the community or tends to a breach of the peace.
[2] We are convinced, from the testimony…
2Cited by1 opinion
- NBoard of Immigration Appeals · 1959