Blair v. State

3 Ohio Cir. Dec. 242
CourtPutnam Circuit Court
DecidedApril 15, 1891
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Ohio Cir. Dec. 242 (Blair v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Putnam Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blair v. State, 3 Ohio Cir. Dec. 242 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1891).

Opinion

MOORE, J.

At the May term, 1890, of the court of common pleas of Putnam county, O., the grand jury found and presented to the court the following indictment:

The State of Ohio, Putnam County, ss.:
“In the court of common pleas of Putnam county, Ohio, of the term of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety, the jurors of the grand jury of the county of Putnam and state of Ohio aforesaid, good and lawful men, duly empanelled, tried, sworn and charged to inquire of the crimes and offenses committed within the body of the said county of Putnam, in the name and by the authority of the state of Ohio, on their oaths aforesaid, do find and present that Lafayette Stoops, Joseph Shoemaker and Edward Blair, otherwise called Joseph H. Hill, late of said-county, on or about the seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety, in the county of Putnam aforesaid, then and there being in and upon one Arthur Henry then and there being, unlawfully and forcibly did make an assault, with intent then and there forcibly and by violence, and by putting him, the said Arthur Henry, in fear, to take from the person of him, the said Arthur Henry, and against the will of him, the 'said Arthur Henry, the money and personal property of great value of him, the said Arthur Henry, and thereby then and there the said Arthur Henry to rob, and the money and personal property aforesaid of him, the said Arthur Henry, to steal, take and carry away; and that the said Lafayette Stoops, Joseph Shoemaker and Edward Blair, otherwise called Joseph H. Hill, then and there did attempt unlawfully, forcibly, and by violence, and by putting the said Arthur Henry in fear, to take from the person of the said Arthur Henry, and against the will of said Arthur Henry, the money and personal property of great value of him, the said Arthur Henry, with the intent thereby, then and there, the said Arthur Henry to rob, and the money and personal property aforesaid to take, steal and carry away; and that the said Lafayette Stoops, Joseph Shoemaker and Edward Blair, otherwise called Joseph H. Hill, a certain pistol then and there loaded and charged with gunpowder and one leaden bullet, which said pistol, they, the said Lafayette Stoops, Joseph Shoemaker and Edward Blair, otherwise called Joseph H. Hill, then and there had and held, then and there unlawfully, purposely, and whilst engaged in said_ attempt to perpetrate a robbery in and upon the said Arthur Henry, as aforesaid, did discharge and shot off, to, against, and upon the said Arthur Henry, with the intent, then and there, the said Arthur Henry, unlawfully and purposely, to kill and murder; and that the said Lafayette Stoops, Joseph Shoemaker and Edward Blair, other[244]*244wise called Joseph H. Hill, with the leaden bullet aforesaid, so as aforesaid by them,, the said Lafayette Stoops, Joseph Shoemaker and Edward Blair, otherwise called Joseph H. Hill, by force of the gunpowder afore, aid, then and there discharged and shot out of the pistol aforesaid, then and there unlawfully, purposely, and whilst engaged in said attempt to perpetrate a robbery in and upon the said Arthur Henry, as aforesaid, did him, the said Arthur Henry, strike, penetrate and wound with the intent, him, the said Arthur Henry, unlawfully and purposely to kill and murder, thereby then and there giving to him, the said Arthur Henry, in and upon the left side of the body of him, the said Arthur Henry, one mortal wound of the length -of one inch and of the depth of ten inches, of which said mortal wound the said Arthur Henry then and there instantly died.
“And so, the jurors aforesaid, do say, that the said Lafayette Stoops, Joseph Shoemaker and Edward Blair, otherwise called Joseph H. Hill, him, the said Arthur Henry, in the manner and by the means aforesaid, unlawfully, purposely, and in attempting as aforesaid to perpetrate a robbery, did kill and murder contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state of Ohio.”

To this indictment Edward Blair interposed—

1. A motion to quash the indictment, which was overruled by the court.
2. A plea in abatement, which plea was demurred to by the state, and the demurrer sustained.
3. A demurrer to the indictment, which was overruled by the court.
Exceptions were severally noted to the rulings of the court.
The defendant Blair then entered his plea of not guilty.
. At the October term, 1890, of said court, Blair was put upon trial, convicted of murder in the first degree, and received the sentence of the court.

It is now sought to reverse the judgment and sentence of the court below.

The errors assigned are numerous, and I will notice those that are especially relied upon for a reversal.

It is unnecessary to make mention of the motion to quash, as the questions, sought to be raised by it are more properly presented in the plea in abatement and demurrer to the indictment.

A mere statement of the causes set out in the plea in abatement is sufficient to show that the demurrer to it was properly sustained. They are:

That it does not appear from the record that the said indictment was found by the grand jury duly drawn and served. That the record does not show that the said grand jury was drawn in the presence of the sheriff or deputy sheriff.

That the record does not show that the grand jury was regularly drawn from the box as provided by law. That the record does not show that the said grand jury was drawn at the time and place prescribed by the statutes.

There is no claim made that the grand jury which found the indictment was regularly drawn; it is simply claimed that the record does not show that. We do not understand that each particular case requires the record of the drawing and impaneling ©f the grand jury to be made a part of it. There is no claim made but what the grand jury finding the indictment was composed of electors qualified to act.

In Huling v. State, 17 O. S. 583, the court hold “mere irregularities in selecting and drawing grand juries, which do not relate to or affect their qualifications as such, must be taken advantage of. if at all, by challenge for cause, and cannot be so pleaded in abatement.”
In the opinion Judge Welch has this to say: “It is important to the defendant that he. should not be subjected to a trial except upon an indictment found by a jury composed of good and lawful men; but provided if they are such good and lawful men, it is matter of no interest to him in what manner they are selected and drawn.”

In the case at bar it is not even claimed that the grand jurors were irregularly drawn; neither is, it claimed that they were not “good and lawful men” qualified to act as such jurors — merely the want of a record to show that they were not properly drawn. We are at a loss, under the rulings of our supreme court, to know upon what grounds this plea in abatement could have been sustained.

The next claim made is that the court below erred in overruling the demurrer to the indictment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 Ohio Cir. Dec. 242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blair-v-state-ohcirctputnam-1891.