Boulter v. State

42 P. 606, 6 Wyo. 66, 1895 Wyo. LEXIS 5
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 19, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 42 P. 606 (Boulter v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boulter v. State, 42 P. 606, 6 Wyo. 66, 1895 Wyo. LEXIS 5 (Wyo. 1895).

Opinion

Giioesbeok:, Chief Justice.

The plaintiff in error was found guilty of the crime of manslaughter in the district court for Laramie County, and on the 16th day of March, 1895, was sentenced by said court to be imprisoned in the penitentiary for the term of six years. The petition in error assigns twenty-eight grounds of error,— assailing the verdict of the jury on the ground that it is not sustained by sufficient evidence and is contrary to law; that the trial court erred in giving certain instructions to the jury requested by the prosecution; in refusing to give an instruction asked for by the defendant;; in accepting the verdict of the jury on March 10, 1895, the same being Sunday; in recording the verdict on that day; that the court had no jurisdiction to try and determine the cause; that the continuance asked for by the defendant should have been granted; that the verdict of the jury was a compromise verdict; that certain of the jurors made representations to their fellows that under a verdict of manslaughter the defendant could not be punished by more than four years’ imprisonment; that one of the jurors prior to the trial had stated publicly that the defendant ought to be hung; that the court erred upon the trial in permitting the indorsement of the names of certain witnesses for the prosecution upon the information, and this was allowed, it is contended, without a showing on the part of the prosecution that the witnesses were unknown at the time of filing the information; that no notice was given to the defendant that said witnesses would be examined in the cause; and that the court erred in overruling the motion for a new trial.

This formidable array of assignments of error was [71]*71expressly withdrawn from our consideration by counsel for the plaintiff in error, with the exception of those alleged errors going to the action of the trial court permitting the indorsement of the names of certain witnesses for the prosecution during the trial, against the objection of the defendant below, and in allowing witness J. F. BL Stahle to be sworn and examined, his name not having appeared as indorsed on the information, until it was so indorsed by order of the court during the trial. As most of the assignment of errors relate to matters occurring during the progress of the trial, they would not have been considered, as it is well settled by a long line of decisions of this court, as well as by its rules, which have been in existence for many years, and promulgated in the published reports and in the session laws, that ‘ ‘ nothing “which could have been properly assigned as a ground for “a new trial in the court below will be' considered in this “court, unless it shall appear that the same was properly “presented to the court below by a motion for a new trial, ‘ ‘and that such motion was overruled and exception was at .“the time reserved to such ruling; all of which shall be “embraced in the bill of exceptions.” Rule 13, Sess., Laws 1895, 328; Sess. Laws, 1890-91, 444; Rule 6 Territorial Sup. Ct., 2 Wyo., 516, Rev. St. Wyo., p. 65; Rubel v. Willey, 40 P., 761; Siebel v. Bath, id., 756; Johns v. Adams Bros., 2 Wyo., 194; Murrin v. Ullman, 1 Wyo., 36; Geer v. Murrin, id., 37; Jenkins v. Ter., 1 Wyo., 317; Garbanati v. County Commissioners, 2 Wyo., 257. In the last case cited, decided at the March, 1880, term, Mr. Justice Blair says in his quaint language: ‘ ‘ This case must go where many have gone before, and “where, doubtless, if we can judge the future by the past, ‘ ‘many will follow it — out of court. Almost from the “time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the “contrary, this court by a standing rule has declared that “they will not consider alleged errors in the record unless * ‘accompanied by a bill of exceptions, in which the motion “for a new trial made in the court below is incorporated. [72]*72“In this case there is no bill', or pretended bill of exceptions, duly allowed by the court below, and, reasoning “from cause to effect, the absence of the motion for a new “trial is apparent.” The assignment of errors upon which counsel for plaintiff in error relies, are matters arising during the trial of the cause, and were alleged errors of law occurring at the trial. These alleged errors must be presented to the trial court by a motion for a new trial which must be incorporated in the bill of exceptions. The record before us is that of the court made up by the clerk from a transcript of the journal entries. Accompanying this are copies of certain motions made during the trial and after its termination, including the motion for a new trial and accompanying affidavits, and the instructions given and refused by the court. There is no bill of exceptions before us, and nothing in the record of the court below to show that time was asked to prepare it and present it to the court or judge thereof for allowance or that any bill was presented to the court. We have then, following our rule and uniform decisions of the court, nothing to decide; for we can, not determine the matters presented to us for consideration, as such matters must be embodied in a motion for a new trial incorporated in the bill of exceptions, which must be presented to, examined by, and allowed by the trial court, or the judge thereof in vacation. There can be no excuse for the violation of this rule, and none is attempted to be made. For nearly a quarter of a century the practice has been followed, as directed by the rules and decisions of this court, to insert a motion for a new trial in a bill of exceptions, certified to by the judge, and not to recognize or consider any matters on appeal, arising during the trial, which were not a part of the record proper, except such as were embodied in' the bill of exceptions. Our rule is but the general doctrine that a motion for a new trial must be incorporated in the bill of exceptions in order to be preserved for review on appeal. 3 Ency. Pleading and Practice, 400. It is true that in Elliott’s [73]*73App. Proc. it is stated that a motion for a new trial is a direct motion, and hence part of the record. Sec. 190, p. 162. But the only cases cited in support of this doctrine are those of Indiana, and these are based on the precedent established in the early case of Kirby v. Cannon, 9 Ind., 371, a case decided upon the peculiar provisions of the statute of that State, making all proper' entries made by the clerk, and “all papers pertaining to “a cause” and filed therein, with a few exceptions, part of the record. Our statute is different. In a criminal case, if the defendant feels himself aggrieved by any decision of the court, he may present his bill of exceptions thereto, or to the judge thereof in vacation, which the judge shall sign, and the same shall be made a part of the record, and have the same force and effect as in civil cases; and if exceptions be taken to the decision of the court, on overruling a motion for a new trial because the verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence, or is contrary to law, the bill of exceptions must contain all the evidence. The taking of all bills of exception are governed by the rules established in civil cases. Rev. St., Sec. 3306, as amended by Sec. 138 of ch. 73, Sess. Laws, 1890. In civil cases, when the decision is not entered on the record, or the grounds of objection do not sufficiently appear in the entry, or for a new trial for misdirection of the court tc the jury, or because the verdict is against the law or the evidence, the party excepting must reduce his exception to writing and present it to the court or the judge thereof in vacation, within the time given for allowance. Rev. St. 2649, as amended by Sec. 1 of ch. 38, Sess. Laws, 1890.

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Bluebook (online)
42 P. 606, 6 Wyo. 66, 1895 Wyo. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boulter-v-state-wyo-1895.