People v. Cotteral
New York Supreme Court
THE prisoners were convicted of arson, at the last Court of Oyer and Terminer, held in Rensselaer county, before Mr. Chief Justice Spencer., The prisoners were brought up on habeas corpus, &c. and from the returns to the writs of certiorari, it appeared that the indictment contained * L 1 three counts : 1. for setting fire to a certain inhabited dwell- • i r t 7 t“\ /• . _ , ing house of Jacob Deforest, m Troy, on the 3d of March, 1820, and thereby feloniously, wilfully, and…
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THE prisoners were convicted of arson, at the last Court of Oyer and Terminer, held in Rensselaer county, before Mr. Chief Justice Spencer., The prisoners were brought up on habeas corpus, &c. and from the returns to the writs of certiorari, it appeared that the indictment contained * L 1 three counts : 1. for setting fire to a certain inhabited dwell- • i r t 7 t“\ /• . _ , ing house of Jacob Deforest, m Troy, on the 3d of March, 1820, and thereby feloniously, wilfully, and maliciously ^ J burning, consuming, and destroying the same: 2. for setting fire to the gaol of Rensselaer county, in…
1Opinion of the Court
Spencer, Ch. J.
delivered the opinion of the Court. A setting on fire an inhabited dwelling house, though the fire should afterwards go out of itself, or be extinguished by another, would constitute the crime of arson. And it has been decided by the Court, that a gaol is an inhabited dwelling house within the meaning of the act. But this case stands on peculiar grounds. It does not appear to have been the intention of the prisoners to burn the gaol. Their original and primary intention was to effect their escape, and the burning was merely for that purpose. It lay on the prisoners to show that…
2Cited by7 opinions
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- People v. FanshaweNew York Supreme Court · 1892
- Smith v. StateCourt of Appeals of Texas · 1887
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