Case ID: cal_48/html/0551-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "By the Court Wallace, C. J.:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

[No. 10,094.]
    THE PEOPLE v. JAMES M. BARNES.
    Evidence on Tbiad bob Bübgbaby.—The prosecution, in an indictment for the crime of burglary alleged to have been committed by breaking and entering the room of D. with the intent to steal, cannot prove that the defendant entered a room of D. different from that alleged in the indictment, and at a time different from that alleged in the indictment, and stole money from D.
    Appeal from the County Court, County of Tolo.
    The indictment alleged that the defendant on or about the 31st day of March, 1874, at the County of Tolo,' in the night time, broke and entered the sleeping apartment of E. F. Dubois, in the Capitol Hotel, in the town of Woodland, with the intent to steal the goods of said Dubois. On the trial, Mr. Dubois was called as a witness by the prosecution, and testified in the course of his examination, against the objection of the defendant, that, on the night of the 30th of November, the night previous to'the alleged burglary, he occupied a room in the Capitol Hotel, different from that alleged to have been broken, and adjoining thereto, and that defendant went with him into the room when he went to bed, and after he retired to bed, the defendant stole a half dollar in silver coin from his pocket, and then left the room. The defendant appealed.
    The other facts are stated in the opinion.
    
      J. C. Ball, for the Appellants.
    
      Attorney-General Love, for the Respondent.
   By the Court Wallace, C. J.:

The defendant was indicted and convicted of the crime of burglary, in breaking and entering the room and sleeping apartment of one Dubois, with intent to steal, etc.

On the trial the District Attorney, as part of his case in chief, was permitted, against the objection of the defendant, to prove that at a time and place admitted to be other than and distinct from those mentioned or intended to be charged in the indictment, the defendant entered a room, at the time occupied by Dubois, and stole a sum of money from him.

Upon settled principles governing the introduction of evidence in criminal cases, this was erroneous, and the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.