Belter v. State

189 N.W. 270, 178 Wis. 57, 1922 Wisc. LEXIS 17
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 8, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 189 N.W. 270 (Belter v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Belter v. State, 189 N.W. 270, 178 Wis. 57, 1922 Wisc. LEXIS 17 (Wis. 1922).

Opinion

Eschweiler, J.

The plaintiff in error was charged with unlawfully having in his possession the green skins of muskrat and mink as prohibited by sec. 29.41, Stats. The penalty for such offense so charged is provided for by sub. (1) (d), sec. 29.63, Stats., by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $100, or by imprisonment in the county jail not less than thirty days nor more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. His sentence was eighteen months in the state prison. The lower branch of the municipal court of Langlade county, before which the plaintiff in error was first brought, having the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace, could hear, try, and determine the offense so charged and impose such a sentence. Sub. (5), sec. 4739, Stats. For an offense punishable to the extent of a term in the state prison such lower branch had but jurisdiction to bind over to the upper branch, which had jurisdiction of such offense and to inflict such a penalty as here -given.

The plaintiff in error alleges, in substance, first, that the proceedings in the lower branch of the municipal court on the first day where plaintiff in error, was charged with and pleaded guilty to a violation of sec. 29.41, Stats., placed him in jeopardy as to such offense and the facts thereof, and the proceedings in the upper branch of the same court were in violation of his constitutional right against second jeopardy; second, that in any event the sentence as. pronounced was in excess of that warranted by law and, to the extent of such excess at least, void.

[62]*62The plaintiff in error is right in both contentions. The lower branch of the municipal court having, like a justice of the peace, a dual jurisdiction, one to bind over to an upper court an offender charged with, or whom the evidence on a preliminary hearing showed probable cause to believe had committed, an offense beyond such lower court’s jurisdiction to try, and also a jurisdiction to try and determine>cases involving such an offense as the one here charged and with such penalty, it undertook to exercise the latter form of jurisdiction and accepted defendant’s plea of guilty in lieu of a trial. By sec. 4749, Stats., it is expressly .made the duty of -such court to thereupon adjudge a defendant guilty of such an offense upon his plea of guilty. It contemplates no delay, between plea and sentence. His plea of guilty, accepted as it- was by the court, was a waiver of any trial and then and there subjected defendant forthwith to the statutory penalty. The exercise of the jurisdiction to try him for such an offense had then become a finality, and it could not be, either on motion by the prosecution or by the court on its own motion, wiped out and the,other jurisdiction to bind over be substituted, as would be the effect if the adopted procedure be sanctioned. The state in effect elected to have a trial as to the charged offense and the court assumed to try and determine for such offense, and such election and choice are binding, and the magistrate, having fully exercised the one jurisdiction, must forego the other. The defendant, under the record, certainly said or did nothing that could be treated as a consent to such subsequent proceedings or as a waiver of his constitutional rights.

By his plea of guilty to the complaint the person so charged stands as to the facts and the offense charged the same as though a verdict of guilty had beep rendered by a jury. Ex parte Brown, 68 Cal. 176, 8 Pac. 829. At such a stage he has passed the point at which jeopardy first attaches. State v. B-, 173 Wis. 608, 617, 182 N. W. 474. Having thus been once in jeopardy, the attempted [63]*63proceedings in the upper branch, whereby what would in effect be a new sentence and a much greater penalty attempted to be given for the same offense and facts, violated his rights secured by sec. 8, art. I, Const., “and no person for. the same offense shall be put twice in jeopardy of punishment.” State v. Blevins, 134 Ala. 213, 32 South. 637; 16 Corp. Jur. 236; Boswell v. State, 111 Ind. 47, 11 N. E. 788.

The fact that he interposed no plea as to former jeopardy when brought before the upper branch of such court, as would have been the better and usual practice, cannot deprive him of his right to rely upon it here, where it is so clearly a matter of record. It is in these identical proceedings, and no issue of fact could have been raised nor resort had to the record of any other court or to any other proceeding. See authorities cited in note to L. R. A. 1917A, 1234.

It is claimed by the state that the proceedings in the lower branch amounted to but a preliminary hearing, at the conclusion of which that court might properly bind over to the higher court. But the plea of guilty to the offense as charged did away with the necessity of any preliminary hearing or any hearing whatsoever. And furthermore, the offense being one for which the court had jurisdiction not only to issue the warrant and bring the charged person before him but had also jurisdiction to try and sentence, there is no purpose in having, and no right given to the person so charged to insist upon, a preliminary examination before trial. State v. Solomon, 158 Wis. 146, 150, 147 N. W. 640, 148 N. W. 1095. The holding in this latter, case on this point is in nowise affected by what is said in Watke v. State, 166 Wis. 41, 44, 163 N. W. 258.

That the mistake that occurred in these proceedings was one of law and as to the powers and duties of the magistrate and that the result thereof will result in the person charged going without sentence or punishment whatsoever, [64]*64does not alter his rights or change his position. It was • so held where, during a trial upon a plea of not guilty, the court discharged the jury without defendant’s consent, believing that the proceedings were being brought under a mistake as to which one of certain statutes controlled, nevertheless jeopardy had attached and could be successfully asserted. Mitchell v. State, 42 Ohio St. 383, 398.

The attempt by the lower branch tO' bind over the defendant to the upper branch of the court on the second day after the plea of guilty had been entered and accepted amounted in effect to the setting aside of such plea of guilty and the judgment that was consequent thereon, even though such an effect was not intended. That which in effect discharges a defendant in a criminal proceeding may be successfully pleaded in bar to.a second attack for the same offense, no matter how irregular the first proceeding may be (16 Corp. Jur. 255) ; or even if it be an acquittal under an erroneous direction of the court to that effect. 16 Corp. Jur. 256.

That the proceedings in the upper branch were for the same substantive offense as that originally charged in the complaint is beyond question. The record quoted supra shows that on its face. The substantial increase in the penalty fixed by the sentence over that fixed by the statute for the offense as charged and based upon the claim of previous conviction for some other offense, was matter that affected the penalty only and was not a part of the substantive offense. State v. Jacobs, 167 Wis. 299, 302, 166 N. W. 324; Dahlgren v. State, 163 Wis. 141, 143, 157 N. W. 531; Howard v. State, 139 Wis. 529, 532, 121 N. W. 133.

The defendant therefore having been once placed in jeopardy before the lower branch of the municipal court, the proceedings in the upper branch upon which sentence was pronounced placed him in jeopardy a second time for the same offense.

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Bluebook (online)
189 N.W. 270, 178 Wis. 57, 1922 Wisc. LEXIS 17, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/belter-v-state-wis-1922.