People v. Niederhauser

258 Ill. App. 564, 1930 Ill. App. LEXIS 608
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 24, 1930
DocketGen. No. 8,201
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 258 Ill. App. 564 (People v. Niederhauser) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Niederhauser, 258 Ill. App. 564, 1930 Ill. App. LEXIS 608 (Ill. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Boggs

delivered the opinion of the court.

Plaintiff in error was indicted, tried and convicted in the circuit court of Winnebago county on an indictment charging him, together with William Alonzo Bridges, George E. Wolfe and Boy Bittner, with conspiracy.

The indictment consisted of three counts. The first count charged that plaintiff in error and the others of said parties “unlawfully, wickedly and maliciously did conspire, combine, confederate and agree together, unlawfully, feloniously and violently, by force and intimidation, the money of the Seward State Bank, a corporation, from the person and immediate presence of the persons then and there having the custody and charge of said money, to take, steal, rob and carry away. ’ ’ The second count was substantially the same as the first, except that it also set forth in some detail' the means used and the things done in connection with said charge of conspiracy. The third count charged that said parties “did conspire, combine, confederate and agree together, unlawfully to feloniously steal, take and carry away the money of the Seward State Bank, a corporation, the same being lawful money of the United States of America, of great value, a more particular description of which said money, and the precise amount and value of which is to the grand jurors here unknown,” etc.

The verdict returned by the jury found plaintiff in error guilty and fixed “the punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary as provided by law.” Motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment were made by plaintiff in error, which motions were overruled. The court rendered judgment that plaintiff in error be confined in the penitentiary for a period of not less than one nor more than five years, and that he pay a fine of $1,000 and one-third of the costs of said proceeding. To reverse said judgment, this writ of error is prosecuted.

It is first contended that the court erred in overruling a motion made at the October, 1929, term of said court, to dismiss said proceedings as to plaintiff in error for want of prosecution.

The affidavit filed in support of said motion set forth that on May 31, 1929, plaintiff in error was arrested and committed to the county jail; that an indictment was returned against him and the others of said parties on June 20, 1929, and he was arraigned on June 21, 1929, being at the April term of said court; that on April 10, 1929, one of the regular days of said April term, it was ordered that a special term be called to convene on July 1, 1929; “that said term of said court had jurisdiction of said offense, and that said case was not brought to trial at said special July term of this court”; that plaintiff in error had been continuously confined to said county jail and had not been admitted to bail; “that said delay has not been caused.by any application on his part, nor has he done anything at any of said terms of court to delay the trial of his said case.”

Said motion was denied, and the ruling thereon is assigned as error. It is insisted that, under the provisions of section 18, Division XIII of the Criminal Code, Cahill’s St. ch. 38, ¶ 771, plaintiff in error should have been tried at said special term; that, not having been so tried, he was entitled to be discharged.

Sections 10 and 11, Cahill’s St. ch. 37, ¶¶ 91 and 92, provide as follows:

“If a special term is appointed at a regular term, an order to that effect shall be entered on the records of the court.

“If the appointment or call of such special term specifies the causes or particular ^matters that will be heard at such term, the business of .such term shall be confined to such causes or matters. If no specification is made, the term shall be deemed to be for the trans.action of all business that may be done at a regular term."

Section 13 of said chapter provides that when a special term is called, notice thereof shall be given by the clerk, which “notice shall state the time and place of holding the court, and, in general terms, what matters may be heard at such term. ’ ’

Section 16 of said chapter provides, among other things:

“Unless otherwise directed by the court or judge, or judges, a grand and petit jury shall be summoned to attend such special term, in like manner as if the same were a regular term.”

The order calling said special July term provided “that no jury shall be called for said term.” The notice given by the clerk as to said special term stated that “no jury will be called for said term.”

In People v. Pueschell, 337 Ill. 84, the court at page 94, in discussing the provisions of said statute as applied to a special term, says:

“The regular terms of the circuit court of Lake county began on the first Mondays of March, October and December. The plaintiff in error was committed on May 19, 1927, and hence there was no term of the court which had jurisdiction of the offense charged within four months of that date. The first term succeeding the commitment of the plaintiff in error was the October term. A special term was convened on the 2nd day of May, 1927, seventeen days before the plaintiff in error was committed, but the order by which the term was called expressly provided that no grand or petit jury should be summoned for it..... No petit jurors were drawn for the special term.”

A special term of court must be called at a regular term, at which time the court calling such term has the power to order that neither a grand nor a petit jury shall be called at such special term. When such an order is made, the business to be transacted at such special term is thereby limited to matters which do not require a trial by jury. The court would have no power at the special term to enlarge the scope of its business, which was fixed by the order calling it, entered at the prior regular term. We therefore hold that the court did not err in denying said motion.

It is next contended that the court erred in overruling the motion to quash said indictment and each count thereof. As to the first and second counts, it is insisted that the same are fatally defective for the reason that they fail to disclose the names of the persons referred to, and that it is not averred that the money mentioned therein was lawful money of the United States, or that it had a value.

Neither the first nor the second count of the indictment names the persons whom it is alleged plaintiff in error and the other of said defendants conspired to rob. Neither do they state that the names of such persons were to the grand jurors unknown. We therefore hold that each of said counts is fatally defective in this respect, and that the court erred in overruling the motion to quash said counts. Lowell v. People, 229 Ill. 227-236; Wharton’s Crim. Law, vol. 2, sec. 1396.

We do not think the other objection urged against said counts is well taken, as the statute provides that “robbery is the felonious and violent taking of money, goods or other valuable thing from the person of another, by force or intimidation.” It is not necessary to aver or prove the value of the money alleged to have been taken in a charge of robbery. Neither would this be necessary in a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.

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Related

People v. Vincent
415 N.E.2d 1147 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1980)
People v. McChristian
309 N.E.2d 388 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1974)
People v. Koning
151 N.E.2d 103 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1958)

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Bluebook (online)
258 Ill. App. 564, 1930 Ill. App. LEXIS 608, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-niederhauser-illappct-1930.