Judge Kent’s Burglary Verdict
A GOOD story is told of Judge Kent, the well-known jurist. A man was indicted for burglary, and the evidence on the trial showed that his burglary consisted in cutting a hole through a tent in which several persons were sleeping, and then projecting his head and arm through the hole, and abstracting various articles of value. It was claimed by his counsel that, inasmuch as he never actually entered into the tent with his whole body, he had not committed the offense charged, and must, therefore, be discharged. Judge Kent, in reply to this plea, told the jury that, if they were not satisfied that the whole man was involved in the crime, they might bring in a verdict of guilty against so much of him as was thus involved. The jury, after a brief consultation, found the right arm, the right shoulder, and the head of the prisoner guilty of the offense of burglary. The judge sentenced the right arm, the right shoulder, and head to imprisonment with hard labor in the state-prison for two years, remarking that as to the rest of the man's body he might do with it what he pleased.