Casteel v. State

62 P. 348, 9 Wyo. 267, 1900 Wyo. LEXIS 17
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 1, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 62 P. 348 (Casteel 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
Casteel v. State, 62 P. 348, 9 Wyo. 267, 1900 Wyo. LEXIS 17 (Wyo. 1900).

Opinion

Coen, Justice.

Upon a trial before a jury in the district court the plaintiff in error was found guilty of the crime of manslaughter, the verdict being returned upon the 26th day of May, 1899. Of the date of June 2d following, the transcript shows the following entry: “Comes now the above-named defendant in person and accompanied by his attorney, and also comes the State of Wyoming by the county and prosecuting attorney, and now the said defendant by his counsel asks leave of court to file his motion for a new trial herein, which permission is granted by the court, and the motion is accordingly filed. ’ ’ Upon the next day the motion was heard and denied generally, no rea[272]*272sons being specified in the order. A bill of exceptions was signed, and the case brought to this court. It was argued here and submitted on the merits. Subsequently, on the 24th day of May, 1900, and prior to any decision in this court, the District Court made an order which, after reciting that the former order did not set forth the facts occurring on that date, is as follows: “ It is therefore ordered that the said entry herein entered on the said 2d day of June, 1899, be and the same is corrected and amended so as to read as follows: ‘ Comes now the above-named defendant by his counsel and files his motion for a new trial herein.’ And it is therefore ordered that the said entry be made as of the said 2d day of June, 1899.” The above correction was certified to this court, and, upon the recoi’d as amended, the Attorney General moves to dismiss the proceedings in error upon the ground that the motion for a new trial was not filed within the time required by the statute. The plaintiff in error, upon the other hand, moves this court to strike the amended record from the files, for the reason that a suggestion of a diminution of the record comes too late after the cause is submitted, and for the further reason that a record cannot be amended after the term at which it was made up, unless there be something to amend by, such as a minute or memorandum made at the time the original record was made, or where the record itself shows facts which would authorize the amendment.

The criminal code, Rev. Stat., Sec. 5416, provides;

‘ ‘ An application for a new trial shall be by motion upon written grounds, which shall be filed at the time the verdict is rendered, and except for the cause of newly discovered evidence material for the party applying, which he could not with reasonable diligence have discovered and produced at the trial, shall be filed within three days after the verdict was rendered, unless additional time be granted by the court upon good cause shown.”

Under the circumstances of this case we deem it unnecessary to decide whether it was competent for the court to [273]*273amend tbe record as was attempted to be done after the term. It is the law of this State 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. Seibel v. Bath, 5 Wyo., 409. And all the alleged errors in this case, are such as should have been assigned as grounds for a new trial. The statute requires that the motion shall be filed within three days after the verdict was rendered. This court has no power or authority to disregard or set aside this provision. It is mandatory and binding upon us, and no authority is lodged in this court to change or modify its requirements. The exceptions to its operation are clearly set out in the statute itself, and ample provision is also made for obtaining additional time in cases where a proper showing is made to bring to the knowledge of the district court that additional time is necessary. Where a defendant has suffered the time to elapse without filing his motion and without any application to the court for additional time, his right is lost, and it is not in the power of this court or the district court to restore it in the face of the statute.

By the original record in this case, and leaving entirely out of consideration the attempted amendment, it does not appear that there was any compliance with the requirements of the statute, but upon the contrary it does appear with reasonable certainty that there was an entire failure upon the part of the defendant to bring himself within its provisions. Not only does it fail to appear that there was any good cause shown for the granting of additional time, but there is no intimation in the record that there was any application or request for additional time. The utmost that can be inferred from the record is that after the expiration of the time, and when the defendant’s right was barred by the statute, application was made to the court to permit the filing of the motion in disregard and violation of the statute. This the court had no power to do. The [274]*274right of the defendant was lost by operation of law, and the court had no power to restore it.

The purpose of a motion for a new trial is twofold: first to obtain a re-examination of the questions by the district court, and to give that court an opportunity to correct its own errors; and second, to lay the basis for an appeal to this court. Whether the District Court, under its general power to revise its own orders during the term, may set aside a verdict upon a motion, filed after the expiration of the time allowed, or upon its own motion, is a question which we do not decide, as it does not arise in this case; but that it cannot give to the defendant 'a standing in this court by permitting the defendant to file his motion out of time is, we think, perfectly clear. And it makes no difference at what stage of the proceedings in error the attention of this court is called to the fact that such alleged errors were not properly presented to the court below by a motion for a new trial. That step being essential to the exercise of the powers of this court, whenever it appears that the errors complained. of were not presented to the lower court in the manner required by statute, this court must refuse to consider them.

While the decisions are not uniform upon the questions involved, we think the great weight of authority sustains the view we have taken. In Missouri it is held that “when a party sleeps upon his rights until the time allowed him by law to make a motion for a new trial expires, he can no longer claim to make the motion as. a matter of right; but he may afterward suggest to the court that substantial justice has not heen done him, and the court may look into the matter or not. If they refuse to grant the party a new trial, no error will lie, because no law authorized him to make the motion after the four days expired.” Williams v. Court, 5 Mo., 248; Richmond v. Wardlow, 36 Mo., 313. And the Nebraska court takes the same view. Fox v. Meacham, 6 Neb., 532. In California the statute provided that the time [275]*275allowed by the code might be extended upon good cause shown by the court in which the action was pending, or a judge thereof. The court in that State held that as the right to move for a new trial is statutory, it must be pursued in the manner pointed out by the statute; and that after the time fixed by statute has expired, the courts have no jurisdiction to extend or revive such right. Burton v. Todd, 68 Cal., 489; Thompson v. Lynch, 43 id., 482; Clard v. Crane, 57 id., 629. And the Nevada court has decided the question in the same way. Killip v. Mill Co., 2 Nev., 34.

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Bluebook (online)
62 P. 348, 9 Wyo. 267, 1900 Wyo. LEXIS 17, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/casteel-v-state-wyo-1900.