Commonwealth v. Lucas
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment for larceny of money, the property of Hazael Lucas, at Waltham, in the county of Middlesex. At the trial in the superior court, before Vbse, J., one Harlow was called as a witness, and testified that, on the day before the commission of the larceny, the defendant, who lived in Waltham, called upon the witness at Newton Upper Falls, and informed him that Hazael Lucas, who was staying at the defendant’s house, had forty dollars in money, and proposed to him to come…
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Indictment for larceny of money, the property of Hazael Lucas, at Waltham, in the county of Middlesex. At the trial in the superior court, before Vbse, J., one Harlow was called as a witness, and testified that, on the day before the commission of the larceny, the defendant, who lived in Waltham, called upon the witness at Newton Upper Falls, and informed him that Hazael Lucas, who was staying at the defendant’s house, had forty dollars in money, and proposed to him to come there, and sleep -with Hazael, and in the night get up and put on Hazael’s pantaloons and come down stairs, where the…
1Opinion of the CourtBigelow, C. J.
We are of opinion that it was competent for the jury to find the defendant guilty as a principal in the *171commission of the felony charged in the indictment, and that the instruction for which he asked was rightly refused. The evidence tended very strongly to show that he was constructively present, aiding and abetting in the larceny, and so liable as principal in the second degree. To charge a person as principal, a strict, actual, immediate presence at the time and place of the commission of the crime is not necessary. Nor is it requisite that he should be so situated as to be an eye or ear…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Norton v. PeopleNew York Supreme Court · 1828