Page:Alford v. State.pdf/8

Rh Many of the cases involving intent are similar to those involving guilty knowledge, in that guilt involves a specific mental attitude on the part of the defendant. For example, burglary is more than the mere breaking and entering of the premises; the defendant must have intended to commit a felony therein. We have therefore held that, when the accused contended that his wrongful entry was a mere trespass without felonious purpose, the Slate could show that the defendant had on other occasions broken into the same store and committed larceny. Camp v. State, 144 Ark. 641 (mem.), 215 S. W. 170. The recent similar offense was directly pertinent to the issue of intent.

Similarly, upon a charge of unlawful possession of morphine the defendant contended that she had the drug lawfully for her own use, upon a doctor's prescription. We held that the State could show that she also had in her possession a quantity of cocaine, as bearing upon the question of whether the morphine was being kept for her own use or for sale or administration to others. Starr v. State, 165 Ark. 511, 265 S. W. 54. Again, where the issue was whether the accused had burned a car to collect insurance, proof that he had burned other insured vehicles was competent. Casteel v. State, 205 Ark. 82, 167 S. W. 2d 634. The same reasoning was followed in Jenkins v. State, 191 Ark. 625, 87 S. W. 2d 78.

A specific intent was involved in Davis v. State, 109 Ark. 341, 159 S. W. 1129. The statutory definition of a vagrant included a person going from place to place for the purpose of gaming. The State was rightly allowed to prove that the defendant had gambled in other counties. "We think such testimony was competent, not for the purpose of proving the commission of the same offense in another county, but to show the purpose of his wanderings, whether to pursue a lawful avocation, or to habitually engage in the pursuit of gambling." The clause we have italicized states plainly enough that a recent similar offense is not for that reason alone competent.

Quite evidently this category includes the many charges of assault with intent to commit a specified crime,