Page:1862-63 Territory of Dakota Session Laws.pdf/131

122 act or procurement of the defendant, and the fact of the destruction or withholding is alleged in the indictment, and established on the trial, the misdescription of the instrument is immaterial.

Sec. 19. In an indictment for perjury or subornation of perjury it is sufficient to set forth the substance of the controversy or matter in respect to which the offense was committed, and in what court or before whom the oath alleged to be false was taken, and that the court or person before whom it was taken, had authority to administer it, with proper allegations of the falsity of the matter on which the perjury is assigned; but the indictment need not set forth the pleadings, record, or proceedings with which the oath is connected nor the commission or authority of the court or person before whom the perjury was committed.

Sec. 20. Upon an indictment against several defendants, any one or more may be convicted or acquitted.

Sec. 21. The distinction between an accessory before the fact and a principal, and between principals in the first and second degree in cases of felony, is abrogated; and all persons concerned in the commission of a felony, whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense, or aid and abet in its commission, though not present, must hereafter be indicted, tried and punished as principals, as in the case of a misdemeanor.

Sec. 22. An accessory after the fact, to the commission of a felony, may be indicted, tried and punished, though the principal felon be neither indicted nor tried.

Sec. 23. A person may be indicted for having, with the knowledge of the commission of a public offense, taken money or property of another, or a gratuity, or reward, or an engagement or promise therefor, upon an agreement or understanding, express or implied, to compound or conceal the offense, or to abstain from a prosecution therefor, or to withhold any evidence thereof, though the person guilty of the original offense has not been indicted or tried.

Sec. 24. Indictments for murder may be found at any time after the death of the person killed; in all other cases, indictments shall be found and filed in the proper court, within three years after the commission of the offense; but the time during