Oriemon v. Territory of Hawaii

13 Haw. 413, 1901 Haw. LEXIS 55
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedMay 23, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 13 Haw. 413 (Oriemon v. Territory of Hawaii) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oriemon v. Territory of Hawaii, 13 Haw. 413, 1901 Haw. LEXIS 55 (haw 1901).

Opinion

OPINION OP THE COURT BY

GALBRAITH, J.

At tbe July, 1900, term of tbe Circuit Court of tbe Fourth Circuit, tbe plaintiff iu error was convicted of tbe crime of murder in tbe first degree, and was sentenced to suffer tbe death penalty in tbe manner provided by law, on tbe 21st day of September, 1900. A writ of babeas corpus was sued out from [414]*414this court in Ms bebalf and a stay of execution granted. After hearing and argument, at the September term, tbe writ was demed and tbe prisoner remanded (13 Haw.' 102). A writ of error was then issued and tbe cause stood for bearing at tbe December term of tbis court. By stipulation entered into between tbe Attorney-General and tbe attorney for the petitioner tbe cause was continued and came on for bearing, at the March, 1901, term. At tbe March term a motion was presented and argued asking leave to file a supplemental petition in error. This motion was denied by oral opinion announced during tbe term. Tbe cause was then argued and submitted on tbe record sent up by tbe clerk of the Circuit Court of tbe Fourth Circuit in return to tbe writ.

Tbe office of a writ of error as defined by our statute is: “A writ of error may be bad to correct any error appearing on tbe record, either of law or fact, or for any cause which might be assigned as error at common law; provided, however, that no writ of error shall issue for any defect of form merely in any declaration, nor for any matter held for tbe benefit of tbe plaintiff in error.” Civil Laws 1897, Sec. 1445.

Sec. 1446. “For all purposes of this Act tbe record shall be deemed to include all pleadings, motions, notes or bills of exceptions, exhibits, clerk’s or magistrate’s notes of proceedings, and if so desired by tbe plaintiff in error a transcript of tbe evidence in tbe .case.”

Tbe record before us consists of tbe indictment, tbe verdict, motion for a new trial, motion in arrest of judgment and tbe clerk’s minutes of tbe proceedings in tbe case. Tbe instructions asked and refused and those given by tbe Court, tbe stenographer’s notes of the evidence and objections, if any were made, to tbe manner of drawing and empanelling the grand jury and objections to tbe petit jury might have been made part of tbe record if proper steps bad been taken on bebalf of tbe petitioner.

Tbe petitioner enumerates seventeen assignments of error in Ms petition for tbe writ. At tbe oral argument and in tbe brief [415]*415he argues only three alleged errors and only two of these are included in the original assignment, and only one of the errors argued finds support in the record.

This court cannot be expected to wander out into the realms of imagination in search for visionary errors or to presume that errors might have occurred in the course of the trial. Every presumption that a court may rightfully entertain in a criminal cause is in favor of the record and the regularity of the proceedings of the trial court. The duty is incumbent on the petitioner alleging error to make the same manifest by bringing the record before the appellate court so as to disclose either that the things complained of were not done in the manner provided by law or were done in a manner prejudicial to the rights of the petitioner. We cannot presume error in the absence of the record. The court had a right to expect when the writ was granted that petitioner would at least bring all of the record of the trial court before us or show good cause for not doing it. He has done neither.

We will examine the record before us and the assignments supported thereby.

The assignments argued are:

1. That the grand jury returning the indictment against petitioner was not drawn in the manner provided by law and was therefore an illegal body.

2. That the judgment and sentence of the court fixed the date of execution contrary to law and is void.

3. That the stenographer did not transcribe and file the judge’s charge to the jury within ten days after the trial and that for this reason the petitioner is entitled to a new trial as a matter of right.

This last is not included in the original assignment of errors and cannot now be considered in view of the decision on the motion to file supplemental petition in error.

It is contended for the petitioner that “in the very beginning we are apprised of the fact that the grand jury which found and presented the alleged indictment upon which the petitioner in [416]*416error was tried, convicted and sentenced, was summoned days after the opening day of the term of the court in which he was tried, while the Organic Act (Sec. 83) provides that they may (shall) be drawn in the manner provided by the Hawaiian statutes for drawing petty jurors.” Counsel neglects to point out in what part of the record we are apprised of the fact of the time when or the manner in which the grand jury that returned the indictment against the petitioner was drawn. We have searched the record in vain for this information.

The general rule is that “the formalities for the selection, organization, and doings of the grand jury are things separable from the judicial jurisdiction and other like fundamentals; so that defendants can waive irregularities therein, and they do waive any one whereof they have knowledge if they fail to object thereto promptly, or at the first step-in the cause permissible.” Bishop New C. P. Vol. 1, Sec. 872. The record does not disclose that the defendant sought to avail himself of any possible irregularity in the drawing of the grand jury or the competency of any of its members prior- to the commencement of the proceedings in this court. Hnder the above rule he certainly waived any rights he may have had to urge this objection at this time.

In the absence of any showing to the contrary in the record, we are bound to assume that the Circuit Court of the Fourth Circuit pursued a lawful method in providing a grand jury for the July, 1900, term.

The next objection is to the form of the sentence. That the court exceeded its jurisdiction in fixing the time of the execution and that for that reason the entire sentence and judgment is void.

The only record of the sentence now before us is that contained in the clerk’s minutes, and these show that on motion of the deputy attorney-general for sentence of Fugihara Oriemon, the court sentenced the defendant directing, that he be taken to the Hilo jail, town of Hilo, Island of Hawaii, and Territory of Hawaii, and within the jurisdiction of the court, and [417]*417“from thence to the place of execution within the enclosed yard of said jail, and that on Friday the 21st day of September, A. D. 1900, between the hours of 10 o’clock in the forenoon and 3 o’clock in the afternoon of said day,” he, the said defendant then and there suffer the punishment of death by being hung by the neck until dead.

The provisions of the criminal code pertinent to the question are Sec. 37, defining the crime of murder and providing that it shall be of two degrees, the first and second, to be found by the jury, and Sec. 41, which prescribes the death penalty for murder in the first degree, and Sec. 082, which reads:

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Bluebook (online)
13 Haw. 413, 1901 Haw. LEXIS 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oriemon-v-territory-of-hawaii-haw-1901.