Hughes v. State

85 N.W. 333, 109 Wis. 397, 1901 Wisc. LEXIS 290
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 26, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 85 N.W. 333 (Hughes 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
Hughes v. State, 85 N.W. 333, 109 Wis. 397, 1901 Wisc. LEXIS 290 (Wis. 1901).

Opinion

Winslow, J.

A claim is made on behalf of the plaintiff in error that the verdict is contrary to the law and the evidence, but we consider the claim so palpably unfounded that we shall not undertake to discuss it at length. It is sufficient to say that, in our judgment, there was ample evidence to sustain the verdict.

The specific errors claimed will be considered under three heads.

1. Errors in the selection and impaneling of the jury. Under this head a number of points are made. A juror named Sanow, when examined on the voir dire, stated that he lived about two blocks from the Barry saloon in October, 1899; that he knew something of the matter from reading about it in the papers, and from hearing some discussion of it, but had not formed an opinion, and thought he could try the case fairly. The juror was accepted, and the trial proceeded. During the progress of the trial, Mr. Vaughn, the prisoner’s attorney, informed the court that he had just been informed that Sanow was at Barry’s saloon soon after the shooting, and was very much excited and affected when he heard of it. Thereupon the court examined Sanow, and he testified that he was in the saloon shortly after the shooting, but did not learn anything in particular about the case, and formed no opinion. The ques[402]*402tion whether he was in the saloon had not been put to him on the voir dire. The court then proceeded with the trial, Sanow remaining upon the jury. After the verdict, upon motion for a new trial, a number of affidavits of various persons were introduced tending to show, among other things, that Sanow was a frequenter of the house of ill fame where May Bolz lived, and that he knew and was intimate with her; that he had been heard to say, soon after the shooting, that the fellow who did it ought to be sent over the road; and that Sanow was in the wine room where the shooting took place fifteen or twenty minutes after-wards, and while the body of the deceased still lay on the floor. Sanow’s testimony was taken, in which he denied substantially all of the facts alleged except that he admitted that he was in the saloon building, but not in the wine room, and admitted that he had been twice in the house where deceased lived, but denied knowing her. The court concluded on this evidence that Sanow’s’testimony was true, and that he was a competent juror. Upon a state of facts quite similar, a like ruling was sustained by this court in the case of Schuster v. State, 80 Wis. 107. The same case also disposes of another exception as to the juror Sanow. He was asked on cross-examination what he'went to the sheriff’s room for after the verdict was rendered, and an objection to the question was sustained. As held in the Schuster Case, the verdict cannot be impeached by anything which the juror said or did after the verdict was rendered.

Another juror, named Healy, was objected to as incompetent because he had served on the regular panel of the superior court within the year, and because he stated that he had formed an opinion in the case. Heither of the points is well taken. Healy was summoned as a talesman, and the very section which disqualifies a person from serving as juryman twice within a year .excepts from the rule the case where a person is summoned as a talesman. Stats. 1898, [403]*403sec. 2525. As to his knowledge of the case, h.e said he had read of it in the newspapers, and that, assuming the facts stated in the papers were true, he had formed an opinion which would require evidence to remove; that notwithstanding this, he thought he could dismiss the impression and stand perfectly fair to the accused upon the evidence. The situation is substantially the same as that presented in Balcer 'ü. State, 88 Wis. 140, and for the reason there stated we hold that no error was committed.

Several jurors were asked whether, in case of a reasonable doubt in their minds as to the guilt of the accused, they would give him the benefit of such doubt, and whether they would give the accused the benefit of such a doubt as quickly as if the accused were a highly respectable gentleman; also whether they would be prejudiced against the accused if it •developed that he was living with a woman not his wife, and whether they would follow their consciences or the judge’s instructions; and other similar questions were put, all of which the court finally ruled out. There was no error in these rulings. While the questions might, perhaps, have been properly allowed, because the trial court has a large discretion as to the selection of a jury (Sutton v. Fox, 55 Wis. 531), the ruling of the court in refusing to allow them was clearly not error. They were questions which practically asked the juryman what he would or would not do under a supposed state of facts, and such questions may properly be ruled out. Thompson, Trials, § 102.

Objection is made to the juror Eogers because it is said his examination showed that he was not a qualified elector ■of this state. As to this it is sufficient to say that, while the testimony showed that he was away from the state a large portion of the time, it also showed that the absences were temporary, and always with the intention of returning. Stats. 1898, sec. 69, subd. 2. He was an unmarried man, and boarded' at a hotel. It is true, that he stated that he [404]*404bad no home here, but it is very evident that he meant by the word “ home a house or family residence. His other testimony showed him to have a legal residence here, and there was no error in allowing him to remain upon the jury.

• Objection is made because at one time during the impaneling of the jury only eleven unchallenged jurors were in the jury box, and at another time there were thirteen in the box. The accused was not required to challenge at either time,'nor were any proceedings had except that the examination of jurors was proceeded with, and, as soon as attention was called to the situation, the blunder was corrected. The true rule is that the full number of twelve unchallenged jurors should be in the box at all times while the jury are being examined. Lamb v. State, 36 Wis. 424. This rule is important, and should be strictly observed by trial courts; and, had the accused been required to challenge when there were' less or more than twelve unchallenged men in the box, it may be that a serious question would be presented; but when it affirmatively appears that he simply examined a juror without objection, and that the error was corrected, and the required number supplied, when attention was called to the matter, and he was not compelled to challenge or exercise any right in the absence of the proper number, it must be held that he suffered no prejudice, and he must be considered to have waived the objection. Flynn v. State, 91 Wis. 44.

2. As to the alleged dying declarations of Hay Bolz, which the court received against objection and exception. This declaration was shown to have been made on the afternoon of Sund'ay, October 8th — three days before her death — to one Lontz. It will be unnecessary to detail here the substance of the statement further than to say that it tended to show that the shooting was intentionaL on the part of the accused, because the deceased had told the accused that it was all off between them. It appears quite clearly from the [405]*405evidence that the wound was so serious that there had been no hope of her recovery from the beginning.

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Bluebook (online)
85 N.W. 333, 109 Wis. 397, 1901 Wisc. LEXIS 290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hughes-v-state-wis-1901.