McLellan v. State

1909 OK CR 95, 103 P. 876, 2 Okla. Crim. 633, 1909 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 182
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 7, 1909
DocketNo. A-124.
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 1909 OK CR 95 (McLellan v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McLellan v. State, 1909 OK CR 95, 103 P. 876, 2 Okla. Crim. 633, 1909 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 182 (Okla. Ct. App. 1909).

Opinion

FURMAN, PRESIDING Judge,

(after .stating the flacts as above). The Attorney General files a motion to dismiss this appeal upon the ground that the record filed in this court does not contain a final judgment of the court against the defendant. The record contains the following ruling of the court upon the defendant’s motion for'a new trial:

“Now, on this the 9th day of December, 1908, there coming on for hearing the motion of the defendant herein for a new *635 trial, the defendant appears in person and by his attorneys, Thus. S. Hardison and Geo. W. Bichardson; and the court, having considered said motion and being well and sufficiently advised in the premises, doth overrule the same, to which ruling of the court in overruling said motion the defendant did then and there except. The court, allowing defendant 90 days in which to prepare and serve his case-made, grants to the state 15 days thereafter in which to prepare and hie suggestions or amendments; case-made to be settled and signed within 10 days thereafter upon 5 days’ notice in writing to either party. Case-made to be filed in Court of Criminal Appeals within 12'0 days from this date.”

The record does not contain a final judgment. The necessity for a final judgment, before, an appeal can be taken, has been repeatedly passed upon by appellate courts.

In Shannon v. State, 7 Tex. 492, it is said: “An appeal will not lie, in either a civil or a criminal cause, until after final judgment.”

In Calvin v. State, 23 Tex. 577, it is said:

“The judgment of the law upon the verdict must be entered on the minutes of the court, notwithstanding an appeal by the defendant; and this court will dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction, if the proper judgment be not entered of record in the court below. Many other cases might be cited to the same effect, but we deem it sufficient for our present purpose to refer only to the cases of Nathan v. State, 28 Tex. 326, and Mayfield v. State, 40 Tex. 290.”

In Smith v. State, 1 Tex. App. 410, 411, it is said:

“The verdict of the jury, by which the accused was found guilty of murder in the second degree, rendered on the 23d day of April, 1873, could not have been appealed from, nor could the judgment of the/Court overruling the defendant’s motion for new trial have been appealed from, for the want of a final judgment of conviction entered against him on the minutes of the court below.”

In Mirelles v. State, 13 Tex. App. 347, it is said:

“In Pennington v. State, 11 Tex. App. 281, it was held that 'though a convicted defendant has a right of appeal in any criminal action, yet he is not convicted until final judgment is rendered against him.’ If, therefore, the record on appeal shows no *636 final judgment in the trial court against the appellant, the appeal will be dismissed by this court. In the case before us there is no declaration in the judgment that 'the defendant is adjudged guilty of the offense as found by the jury.5 55

This question was passed upon by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma Territory in Sproat v. Durland, 7 Okla. 230, 54 Pac. 458. In that case the record contains the following:

‘Otto C. Durland v. Samuel Sproat. No. 1,551. Come now the plaintiff and defendant, by their counsel, and waive a jury and consent to a trial by court; and' J. M-. Owens is sworn and testified on behalf of plaintiff, and plaintiff and defendant rest; and judgment is rendered herein for plaintiff and against the defendant, per journal entry; and defendant excepts to said judgment, and is given 30 days to make and serve a case-made for the Supreme 'Court, and 10 days given to- suggest amendments, and to be closed on 5 days5 notice.5 There is no certificate of the clerk that this is a copy of the judgment rendered in said cause, and it is not, and does not purport to be, a judgment. .It is simply a' recital of the fact that a judgment was rendered, and shows on its face that a journal entry was to be filed, showing what the judgment of the court was. It has frequently been held bjr appellate courts that the form of a judgment is not to be treated as fatal, if it appears that it was intended; to be a judgment, and it can be determined whom the judgment was in favor of, and whom against and what the court ordered or decreed should be done, together with the amount of recovery, if there was a money judgment. But what is not intended for a judgment of the court cannot be treated as -a judgment, and it is clear from what we have before us that the entry set out was not intended for the judgment of the court. This court will not review the proceedings of the trial 'court in any ease, unless the record contains a copy of the final judgment or final order of the court from which the appeal is taken. Gardenhire v. Burdick, 7 Okla. 212, 54 Pac. 483.55

In Brown v. Territory, 15 Okla. 362, 82 Pac. 647, the court said:

“The .case-made contains no copy of the judgment of the district court, nor does it contain any statement that a judgment of conviction was rendered against the defendant, the plaintiff in error; neither does the record contain airy motion for new *637 trial. Tliere is a recital that a motion for new trial was filed, presented, and overruled; but we have no means of knowing what it contains or upon what the plaintiff in error relies as ground for new trial in the court below. We cannot consider the alleged errors embraced in the petition in error upon so defective a record. It is the judgment of trial court that the plaintiff in error is entitled to appeal from. There is nothing to inform this court that any judgment has ever been rendered.”

An appeal does not lie to this court from any ruling or order made by the trial court before final judgment is rendered and sentence has been pronounced. When' a final judgment is rendered, and an appeal is taken therefrom, then any and all rulings or orders made during the trial are subject to review by this court, if properly saved by exceptions and contained, in the case-made or transcripts of the record. In a number of cases submitted to this court, many irregularities appear in the record. This shows a want of care and attention on the part of counsel for the defense in preparing their casesmrade, and also on the part of county attorneys in failing to carefully inspect the case-made served upon them, and in not pointing out to1 the trial judges the errors which they contain, in. order that they may be corrected. It is the duty of counsel for the defense to see that, before a case is filed in this court, the case-made and transcript, of the record are properly prepared and contain everything that they desire to present to the court, and which is necessary to give this court jurisdiction. It is equally the duty of the county attorneys to carefully inspect all eases-made sferved upon them,, and, if they are defective, to point out to the court any errors contained therein.

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

Related

State v. Welcher
1970 OK CR 117 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1970)
Wilson v. State
1961 OK CR 83 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1961)
Smith v. State
1961 OK CR 10 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1961)
Baker v. Town of Lexington
1959 OK CR 107 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1959)
Moran v. State
1958 OK CR 112 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1958)
State v. Kile
1952 OK CR 149 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1952)
McMichael v. State
1951 OK CR 21 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1951)
Lamb v. State
1950 OK CR 76 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1950)
Davis v. State
1929 OK CR 560 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1929)
Factor v. State
1929 OK CR 139 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1929)
Coates v. State
1926 OK CR 95 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1926)
Settle v. State
1925 OK CR 406 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1925)
Herman v. State
1923 OK CR 125 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1923)
Stanton v. State
1923 OK CR 76 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1923)
Mitchell v. State
1920 OK CR 122 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1920)
Sherwood v. State
1920 OK CR 110 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1920)
Mobbs v. State
1919 OK CR 160 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1919)
Harjoe v. State
1918 OK CR 1 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1918)
G.B. Loyd v. State
1915 OK CR 203 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1915)
Fowler v. State
1914 OK CR 137 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1914)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1909 OK CR 95, 103 P. 876, 2 Okla. Crim. 633, 1909 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mclellan-v-state-oklacrimapp-1909.