US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

DEALY V. UNITED STATES, 152 U. S. 539 (1894)

Subscribe to Cases that cite 152 U. S. 539

U.S. Supreme Court

Dealy v. United States, 152 U.S. 539 (1894)

Dealy v. United States

No. 1035

Argued March 20, 1894

Decided April 2, 1894

152 U.S. 539

Syllabus

A nolle prosequi as to a count in an indictment works no acquittal, but leaves the prosecution as though no such count had been inserted in the indictment.

A verdict of guilty or not guilty as to the charge in one count of an indictment is not responsive to the charge in any other count.

In charging a conspiracy to defraud the United States of large tracts of land by means of false and fictitious entries under the homestead laws, it is not necessary to specify the tracts by number of section, township, and range.

An entry of lands under the homestead law in popular understanding means not only the preliminary application, but the proceedings as a whole to complete the transfer of title, and in charging a conspiracy to obtain public land by false entries, the word may be used in that sense in the indictment.

A charge that an overt act was done according to and in pursuance of a conspiracy which had been previously recited, is equivalent to charging that it was done to effect the object of the conspiracy.

If an illegal conspiracy be entered into within the limits of the United States and within the jurisdiction of the court, the crime is complete, and the subsequent overt act in pursuance thereof may be done anywhere.

On December 16, 1892, an indictment was returned by the grand jury in the District Court of the United States for the District of North Dakota charging this plaintiff in error, together with others, with the crime of conspiracy to defraud the United States, as denounced in section 5440, Revised Statutes, which reads:

"If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States or to defraud the United States in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such parties do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, all the parties to such conspiracy shall be liable to a penalty of not less than one thousand dollars and not more than ten

Page 152 U. S. 540

thousand dollars and to imprisonment not more than two years."

The indictment was in seventeen counts. The first was as follows:

"That on the first day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, in the County of Rolette, State of North Dakota, and within the jurisdiction of this Court, one William W. Allen, one Michael Dealy, one Edward Laberge, one Peter Thibert, and one H. H. Fritz, and others to the grand jury unknown did commit the crime of conspiracy to defraud the United States, committed as follows:"

"That at the time and place aforesaid, the said William W. Allen, Michael Dealy, Edward Laberge, Peter Thibert, and H. H. Fritz, and others to the grand jury unknown did falsely, unlawfully, and wickedly conspire, combine, confederate, and agree together among themselves to defraud the United States of the title and possession of large tracts of land in said county of great value by means of false, feigned, illegal, and fictitious entries of said lands under the homestead laws of the United States, the said lands being then and there public lands of the United States, open to entry under said homestead laws at the local land office of the United States at Devil's Lake City, in said state, and that according to and in pursuance of said conspiracy, combination, confederacy, and agreement among themselves, had as aforesaid, the said Allen did persuade and induce one Charles Pattnaude to make filing under said homestead laws, and thereafter to make proof and final entry under said laws for the lands known and described as follows: the south half of the northeast quarter and lots one and two of section six, in township one hundred and sixty-three north, of range seventy west, of the fifth principal meridian, said lands lying and being in said county, on which said lands said Pattnaude, as said Allen then and there well knew, had never made settlement, improvement, or residence, contrary to the form of the statute of the United States in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the United States. "

Page 152 U. S. 541

In the further counts, the conspiracy was charged in substantially the same language, but with it in each a separate overt act, that in the third being stated as follows:

"According to and in pursuance of said conspiracy, combination, confederation, and agreement, the said Allen did fraudulently and unlawfully induce and persuade one Frank Premeau to appear as a witness for one Charles Pattnaude in making final proof under said laws before H. H. Fritz, clerk of the district court of the State of North Dakota in and for said county, being a court of record of said state, and as such witness, before said Fritz, to testify and make proof for said Pattnaude in effect that he had resided for more than five years immediately preceding the time of making said proof on the lands known and described as south half of the northeast quarter, and lots one and two of section six, township one hundred and sixty-three, range seventy west, of fifth principal meridian, lying and being in said county, public lands of the United States, and subject to entry under said laws of said land office, whereas in fact said Pattnaude, as said Allen well knew, had never resided on said land at any time within five years prior to making such proof, contrary to the form of the statute of the United States in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the United States."

The overt acts stated in the other counts were of a similar character. Prior to the trial, a nolle was entered as to the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth, and seventeenth counts. The case being tried on the remaining counts, the defendants Allen, Dealy, and Laberge were found guilty on all but the sixteenth. A motion for a new trial and one in arrest of judgment having been overruled, the defendant Dealy was sentenced to imprisonment for the term of one year and one month, and to pay a fine of $1,000. To reverse such judgment and sentence, he sued out a writ of error from this Court. chanrobles.com-red

Page 152 U. S. 542



























chanrobles.com



ChanRobles Legal Resources:

ChanRobles On-Line Bar Review

ChanRobles Internet Bar Review : www.chanroblesbar.com

ChanRobles MCLE On-line

ChanRobles Lawnet Inc. - ChanRobles MCLE On-line : www.chanroblesmcleonline.com