City of Des Moines v. Pugh

2 N.W.2d 754, 231 Iowa 1283
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMarch 17, 1942
DocketNo. 45852.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2 N.W.2d 754 (City of Des Moines v. Pugh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Des Moines v. Pugh, 2 N.W.2d 754, 231 Iowa 1283 (iowa 1942).

Opinion

Stiger, J.

Section 24 of the ordinance reads:

11 See. 24. Stop before entering a through street. When stop signs are erected upon highways intersecting a through street at the entrances thereto or at the entrance to any intersection, every driver of a vehicle and every motorman of a street ear shall stop at every such sign or at a clearly marked stop line before entering the intersection except when directed to proceed by a police officer or traffic control signal.”

*1285 The penalty for violating any provision of the ordinance is a fine of not more than $100 or imprisonment of not more than 30 days.

About 11 o’clock on the night of January 8, 1941, appellant was driving his automobile south on 42d Street in the City of Bes Moines, approaching Kingman Boulevard, and drove across the boulevard without stopping at the stop sign on the northwest corner of the intersection. A police officer stopped appellant south of the intersection and handed him a summons which notified him that he had violated a city ordinance and that an information would be on file in the traffic bureau, Des Moines, Iowra, at 9 o’clock a. m., January 9.

Appellant then stated to the officer that he did not see the sign and there was nothing to stop for. Appellant ivas not taken into custody.

Appellant did not choose to pay a imp at the traffic bureau and appeared to fhe information, which charged him with driving a motor vehicle through a boulevard slop sign.

The case was tried in the municipal court without a jury, under the provisions of section 10669, 1939 Code. Appellant was found guilty and a fine of $3.00 was imposed.

Appellant appealed to the district court of Iowa in and for Polk county. At the first trial in the district court the jury disagreed, and the second trial resulted in a verdict of guilty and he has appealed from judgment upon this verdict.

I. Appellant’s first assignment of error is that the action in the municipal court was commenced by the summons, which was a malicious threat to extort money from appellant, oppress, and rob him, under a pretense of acting in an official capacity; that the municipal court acquired no jurisdiction over the appellant under the summons to try him for a violation of the city ordinance; that the judgment was void and therefore the district court was without jurisdiction to retry appellant on appeal.

The summons states:

“You are hereby notified that you have violated either a city or state traffic law and an information will be on file in the TRAFFIC BUREAU, DES MOINES, IOWA, at 9 :00 A. M. 1-9, 1941.

“Officer 159-212

*1286 ‘ ‘ Court closes at noon Saturday...........

“to avoid delay

“bring this summons to

“police traffic bureau,

“East First and Court Avenue.”

The action in the municipal court was not commenced by the summons, which was handed to appellant for the purpose of notifying him he had violated an ordinance and to give him an opportunity to voluntarily pay a fine at the traffic bureau. It was commenced by the information filed in the municipal court, to which appellant appeared, pleaded not guilty, and trial was had in said court on the information.

II. Sections 13558 and 13559, Code, 1939, read:

“13558 Information. Criminal actions for the commission of a public offense must be commenced before a justice of the peace by an information, subscribed and sworn to, and filed with the justice.

“13559 Contents of information. Such information must contain: * * *

“3. A statement of the acts constituting the offense, in ordinary and concise language, and the time and place of the commission of the offense, as near as may be.”

Section 10656 provides that the municipal court, in all criminal matters, shall exercise the jurisdiction conferred on justice of the peace courts. Under the provisions of section 10666 the municipal court had jurisdiction of all criminal actions for the violation of city ordinances. Appellant complains the information was not sworn to. The information shows on its face it was signed by D. W. Rayburn, who was, as shown by the record, captain of the traffic bureau, and was sworn to before Municipal Judge C. Edwin Moore. Appellant further claims the municipal court was without jurisdiction because the information does not comply with subsection 3 of section 13559. The caption of the information, with reference to the offense charged, states that appellant “is accused of No Blvd Stop at 42 Kingman.” The body of the information charged that appellant unlawfully ‘1 drove a motor vehicle through a boulevard stop sign ’ ’ contrary to an ordinance of the City of Des Moines.

*1287 The facts stated in the information fully informed appellant of the offense charged and constituted a substantial compliance with section 13559.

Another objection to the information is that it docs not contain a statement of the place of the commission of the offense. The place named in the information is 42 Kingman. Appellant states this named place means a street number on Kingman Boulevard and charges no offense at 42d Street and Kingman Boulevard; that is, appellant claims that he was charged with failing to stop at a boulevard stop sign at 42 Kingman Boulevard.

Appellant entered his plea to the information and proceeded to trial in the municipal court without in any manner challenging the information, and made this objection for the first time in his motion for a directed verdict. In State v. Porter, 206 Iowa 1247, 1248, 220 N. W. 100, defendant was charged, by information filed in the municipal court of the city of Des Moines, with the violation of a city ordinance. He attacked the sufficiency of the information for the first time in his motion in arrest of judgment. The opinion states:

“The appellant is not now iu a position to question the sufficiency of the filed information. The information was not, in the trial court, challenged in any manner, before plea, entered, and therefore the objections now urged must be viewed as waived in the first instance.”

See, also, State v. Phillips, 212 Iowa 1332, 236 N. W. 104. See, generally, sections 13659, 13660, 10669.1, 13781, and 13791.

Appellant must be deemed to have waived the objection.

Appellant was accused in the caption of the information of 1 ‘ No Blvd Stop at 42 Kingman, ’ ’ and charged in the body of the information with driving a motor vehicle through a boulevard stop sign. It appears without dispute that appellant, a resident of Des Moines, drove south on 42d Street and across Kingman Boulevard, and the summons was handed to him immediately after he crossed the intersection. He knew he was charged with not stopping at a boulevard stop sign.

The court is of the opinion that, under the circumstances, appellant must have reasonably understood from the information that the place of the offense was at 42d Street and Kingman *1288

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Marzen v. Klousia
316 N.W.2d 688 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1982)
State v. Phippen
244 N.W.2d 574 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1976)
State v. Williams
193 N.W.2d 529 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1972)
State v. Bostwick
57 N.W.2d 217 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1953)
State v. Bethards
32 N.W.2d 769 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1948)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2 N.W.2d 754, 231 Iowa 1283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-des-moines-v-pugh-iowa-1942.