Note 10 — Chapter I · INTENTIONAL INTERFERENCE

In Chapman v. State, 78 Ala. 463; State v. Yturaspe, 22 Idaho, 360; State v. Sears, 86 Mo. 169; State v. Godfrey, 17 Or. 300; McKay v. State, 44 Tex. 43, it was decided that a defendant who aimed an unloaded pistol at another, although perhaps liable for a civil assault, was not guilty of a criminal assault. See also 2 Green, Cr. Cas. 271 n.; Territory v. Gomez, 14 Ariz. 139; People v. Sylva, 143 Cal. 62. Such conduct was held to be a criminal assault in State v. Shepard, 10 Ia. 126; Commonwealth v. White, 110 Mass. 407; State v. Barry, 45 Mont. 598; Clark v. State, (Okl. Cr.) 106 Pac. 803; State v. Smith, 2 Humph. 457; Richels v. State, 1 Sneed, 606 (semble); Morison’s Case, 1 Brown, Just. R. (Scotch) 394. In Commonwealth v. White, supra, Wells, J., said: “It is not the secret intent of the assaulting party, nor the undisclosed fact of his ability or inability to commit a battery, that is material, but what his conduct and the attending circumstances denote at the time to the party assaulted.” Cf. Howell v. Winters, 58 Wash. 436.