Anduaga v. United States

254 F. 61, 165 C.C.A. 471, 1918 U.S. App. LEXIS 1282

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Decided: November 21, 1918
• Docket: No. 3284
• Status: Published

Opinion

BATTS, Circuit Judge.

Article 1014, R. S. (Comp. St. 1916, § 1674), provides that a United States commissioner may take bail in any state “agreeably to the usual mode of process against offenders in such state.” A provision of Code of Criminal Procedure of Texas 1911, art. 321, is to the effect that—

“A bail bond shall be sufficient if it contains the following requisites: * * *

“3. If the defendant is charged with an offense that is a felony, that it state that he is charged with a felony.”

The bond upon which the judgment appealed from was based was in accordance with the law, unless the following is insufficient as a compliance with the quoted subdivision:

“Answer the United States in a complaint filed against him, the said a felony in said court, charging him with.”

It is apparent that any deficiency is the result of a mere transposition of words, probably caused by filling blanks in a printed form. The words as used constitute a sufficient recital of the fact that the defendant was charged with a felony. A mere clerical inaccuracy, re-suiting in .no harm to any person at interest, ought not to be permitted to defeat the purpose of the law and the intentions of the parties to the- bond.

The judgment is affirmed.