In re Corcoran

59 P. 18, 6 Idaho 657, 1899 Ida. LEXIS 48
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 27, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 59 P. 18 (In re Corcoran) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Corcoran, 59 P. 18, 6 Idaho 657, 1899 Ida. LEXIS 48 (Idaho 1899).

Opinion

HUSTON, C. J.

— The petitioner was convicted of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to confinement in the state penitentiary at hard labor for the period of seventeen years. Application is made for a writ of habeas corpus, which application is based upon several grounds. The jumbled, incoherent, and repetitive manner in which the grounds upon which the writ is asked are stated in the briefs of counsel for the petitioner renders it somewhat difficult to treat or consider them [660]*660seriatim. We will therefore consider them as they appear to us in the briefs of counsel.

The primary contention is, as set forth in the principal brief, "that the judgment and sentence is void, because the court never acquired jurisdiction of the person of defendant, or of the offense set forth in the judgment and commitment”; and this, because, as is contended, the grand jury which found the indictment upon which the petitioner was tried and convicted was not summoned and impaneled as required by law. In support of this position, petitioner’s counsel set forth the proceedings of the court in the matter of summoning the grand jury, as the same appears in the record, which is as follows:

"In the Matter of Drawing and Summoning a Grand 'Jury.”
"It satisfactorily appearing to the court that a grand jury will be required at this term of court, and that the same has not been drawn or summoned to attend, it is therefore ordered that the coroner, and acting sheriff of said county summon, as provided by law, twenty good and lawful men of this county to be and appear at the courthouse of said county, at Wallace, at 2 o’clock P. M., on June 12, A. D. 1899.
"Done in open court, this eighth day of June, A. D. 1899.
(Signed) “GEORGE H. STEWART,
"Judge.”

It should be stated in limine that it is shown, both by the return to the writ of habeas corpus herein, as well as by public records, of which we taire judicial notice, that at the general election held in November, 1898, the county seat of Shoshone county was, by vote of the qualified electors of said county, changed from the town of Murray, to the town of Wallace, and that the jury, which counsel for petitioner claims had already been drawn, was drawn at the town of Murray, after such removal of the county seat to the town of Wallace. The law provides that the jury shall be drawn at the office of the clerk, which is required to be kept at the county seat, and, the law not having been complied with in the drawing of such jury, the statement of the district judge in his order that no jury had Been drawn was entirely correct. It is contended by counsel [661]*661for the petitioner that “the court had no power or authority to make such order, and it was therefore null and void.”

Section 3952 of the Eevised Statutes, as the same stood prior to the amendatory act of February 1, 1899 (see Idaho Sess. Laws, 1899, p. 335), was as follows: “Not less than fifteen nor more than thirty days before the commencement of any term of the district court, the judge thereof, if a jury will be required therefor, must make and file with the clerk an order that one be drawn. The number to be drawn must be fixed in the-order; if to form a grand jury, it must he twenty, and if a trial jury, such number as the judge may direct.” By the amendatory act referred to, said section was made to read as follows: “The district court or the judge thereof, if a jury will be required at any term of the district court, must make and file with the clerk an order that one be drawn. The number to be drawn must be fixed in the order; if to form a grand jury, it must be twenty, and if a trial jury, such number as the judge may direct.” It will be seen that the only change made in the section by this amendment is the elimination therefrom of the time within which such order must be made, to wit: “Not less than fifteen nor more than thirty days before the commencement of any term of the district court..” The purpose and intent of the legislature in the enactment of this amendment is palpable, and yet counsel for petitioner most vehemently contends that this amendatory act repealed section 3961 of tha Eevised Statutes. This latter section is as follows: “Sec. 3961. Whenever jurors are not drawn and summoned to attend any court of record, or a sufficient number of jurors fail to appear, such court may, in its discretion, order a sufficient number to be drawn and summoned to attend such court; or it may, by order entered on its minutes, direct the sheriff of the county to summon so many good and lawful men of his county to serve as jurors as the case may require. And in either case such jurors must be summoned in the manner provided by the preceding section.” This contention of counsel rests entirely upon the assumption that section 2 of the amendatory act provides that “all acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed,” and that the provisions of section 3961 are. [662]*662in conflict with section 3952 as amended. It will hardly be contended, we apprehend, that there was any conflict between section 3952 and section 3961 before the amendatory act was passed, and how the amendment, which consists solely of striking out from said section of the time within which the order of the court directing the drawing of the jury should be made, can create a conflict is entirely beyond our comprehension.

! This whole question was before this court in the case of Simmons v. Curminghcmij 4 Idaho, 426, 39 Pac. 1109; and the action of the district court in that case was sustained. The conditions existing in Shoshone county at the time of the trial in Simmons v. Cunningham; or at the commencement of the term at which said trial was had, were, only in a lesser degree, the same as existed at the opening of the term at which the petitioner was tried and convicted; and the court, upon petition of the bar of Shoshone county, adjourned the term from July 7th to July 16th, and discharged all jurors theretofore drawn for such term. On the convening of the court; on July l'6th, a venire was issued, as provided in section 3961, and this action of the district court was affirmed by this court. In the ease at bar a much more serious condition of affairs existed. For a period of some eight years the organization known as the “Miners’ Union” had had almost absolute control of the affairs of Shoshone county; the election of all officers of the county had been controlled by that organization; all business was subject to their domination and dictation; crimes of the most heinous character had been committed with impunity; and so intimidated had been the law-abiding portion of the county, who were vastly in the minority, that any investigation of such crimes was practically impossible. That this condition of things had existed from 1892 is matter of history. It is also matter of history that on April 29, 1899, a mob of something about one thousand in numbers, composed of members of the organization known as the “Miners’ Union,” and many of whom were masked, coming from the various mining camps in said county, overpowering the railroad employees, came by train to Wardner Junction, in said county, destroyed several hundred thousand dollars of property, and committed two mur[663]*663•ders. The county commissioners, the sheriff, and the prosecuting attorney of said county were notoriously known to be, if not members of said organization, openly in sympathy with them.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 P. 18, 6 Idaho 657, 1899 Ida. LEXIS 48, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-corcoran-idaho-1899.