People v. Holmes

50 P. 675, 118 Cal. 444, 1897 Cal. LEXIS 797
California Supreme Court·Decided October 4, 1897·No. Crim. No. 223·Published·Cited by 59 cases

Opinion

CHIPMAN, C.

Defendants were jointly indicted and tried for the murder of one C. A. Mars in the city and county of San Francisco, on the tenth day of March, 1896. They were convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and sentenced to one year in the state penitentiary. The appeal is from the judgment and the order denying motion for new trial.

The verdict is claimed to be erroneous for: 1. Insufficiency of evidence to support it; and 2. To be either void or in effect an acquittal by reason of its form. That portion of the verdict drawn in question is as follows:

“Second. We find a verdict of 'guilty5 against all the others named in the indictment, to wit, against James Holmes, William Starr, D. Dunn, Neal Collins, W. Dowling, E. G. Waltz, and Walter McCoy, and find a verdict of 'Involuntary Manslaughter,5 'Not a felony,5 as charged and laid down by the court under the head of involuntary manslaughter, and pray the extreme mercy of the court in its sentence and punishment, and so say we all.55

1. When the verdict was brought in, the court refused to receive it, and directed the jury to reconsider if and to strike out the words “not a felony55; the jury again returned the verdict without change, and it was duly recorded. It is now said this was error, and also that the verdict was in effect an acquittal. The [448] court pursued the statute closely, and there is no serious question except as to the effect of the verdict. It is certainly informal, and the words, “not a felony,” if given effect, contradict the words “guilty of involuntary manslaughter,” which is a felony. It is made the duty of the court, by section 1161 of the Penal Code, where there is a verdict of conviction, to explain to the jury if they have mistaken the law, and direct a reconsideration of the verdict, and if the same verdict is returned it must be entered; but the court cannot require a reconsideration if it is a verdict of acquittal. The verdict clearly shows an intention to convict, and the grade of the offense is fixed by declaring it to be involuntary manslaughter. We cannot say what the jury meant by intejrpolating the words “not a felony,” unless it be that they referred to the words “acts not amounting to a felony,” which, when committed, constitute one form of involuntary manslaughter. These words were used in the instruction and were taken from the code definition. But whatever may have been the intention of the jury, by no possible construction could we reach the conclusion that the jury meant to acquit tire defendants, for they not only found them guilty in terms, but recommended them “to the extreme mercy of the court in its sentence and punishment.” Whether the crime of which the defendants were found guilty was or was not a felony did not lie with the jury to declare —the statute does this. There is no good reason why the verdict of a jury should not have a reasonable construction and be given effect according to its manifest intention. The words “not a felony” should be rejected as surplusage, and the general verdict of “guilty of involuntary manslaughter” should stand as the verdict.

An affidavit purporting to be signed by eight of the jurymen was read in explanation of the verdict, upon the hearing of the motion for a new trial. The court refused to consider this affidavit, to which defendants excepted. The court regarded the affidavit properly, I think, as an attempted impeachment of the verdict, which it is well settled cannot thus be done.

2. Appellants claim that the record fails to show that the defendants were present at all the stages of the proceedings against them, and the verdict is therefore void. (Citing Pen. Code, sec. 1043; People v. Kohler, 5 Cal. 72; People v. Higgins, 59 Cal. 357.)

[449] The minutes contain the following entry for May 27, 1896: “The jury, defendant, and all counsel present.” In the bill of exceptions is found the following statement: “May 27, 1896, 10 o’clock, A. M., .... jury called and all answered present. Defendants and respective counsel present.” The minute entry was doubtless a clerical error. There is nothing in the record to show what the fact was as to the defendants being all present on that day. The bill of exceptions was presented by the defendants and allowed by the court, and defendants’ motion for new trial is based upon it. We do not think the defendants can now call in question the verity of their own bill of exceptions. Error must affirmatively appear. At most, the minute entry and the bill of exceptions are in conflict as to a fact. If the fact was that the defendants were not all present, they should have made the fact clearly to appear. (People v. Bealoba, 17 Cal. 389.) It is further claimed that the record fails to show that the defendants were present when the' verdict was rendered, as required by section 1148 of the Penal Code. The minute entry is silent on the subject. If the fact is that defendants were absent when the verdict was rendered, it should have been made to appear af'firmatively in the record. Error will not be presumed. On appeal all intendments are in faver of the regularity of action of the trial court. (People v. Douglass, 100 Cal. 1.)

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People v. Holmes, 50 P. 675, 118 Cal. 444, 1897 Cal. LEXIS 797 (Cal. 1897).

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