People v. Vázquez

20 P.R. 338
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedApril 30, 1914
DocketNo. 655
StatusPublished

This text of 20 P.R. 338 (People v. Vázquez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Vázquez, 20 P.R. 338 (prsupreme 1914).

Opinion

Mb. Justice del T-obo

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the District Court [340]*340of Gruayama convicting Victorio Vázquez of the crime of bribery and sentencing him to ten years’ imprisonment In the penitentiary at hard labor.

The pertinent part of the information reads as follows:

“The fiscal charges Victorio Vázquez with the crime of bribery as defined in section 105 of the Penal Code, a felony committed in the following; manner: On or about December 16, 1912, in the city of Guayama which forms a part of this judicial district, the accused, Victorio Vázquez, while serving as juror in this district court, unlawfully, wilfully, corruptly, and criminally solicited, asked for, received, and agreed to receive a bribe of more than one hundred dollars from Alfredo Amy with the intention and purpose that the said amount of money should influence his vote, opinion and verdict as such juror in favor of Arturo Amy, a son of the aforesaid Alfredo Amy, who then and there was charged with the crime of murder in the second degree, and the accused, Victorio Vázquez, having been named, drawn and duly summoned to serve as a juror on the regular panel of this district court during the month of December, 1912, criminally asked for, received, and agreed to receive the said amount of money under the agreement and promise to vote as such juror in favor of the acquittal of Arturo Amy in the case of The People of Porto Rico v. Arturo Amy for the crime of murder in the second degree, the trial of which was set for December 17, 1912, and such promise of acquittal was made by the accused knowing that the question of the innocence or guilt of the said Arturo Amy would be submitted to him' as such juror. ’ ’

The accused demurred to the information, alleging: (1) that the facts stated therein did not constitute a public crime; (2) that it was unintelligible; (3) that it charged more than one crime. Thereupon- the fiscal corrected the information by substituting the words “asked for” for the word ‘£ gave ’ ’ which appeared therein, and the court,. after hearing arguments on both sides, overruled the demurrer.

In his brief filed in this court the accused maintains that the court erred in thus deciding the questions raised. In our. opinion the trial court acted correctly.

Section 105 of the Penal Code reads as follows:

[341]*341“Every judicial officer, juror, referee, arbitrator, and every person authorized by law to hear or determine any question or controversy, who asks, receives, or agrees to receive, any bribe, upon any agreement or understanding that his vote, opinion, or decision upon any matter or question which is or may be brought before him for decision, shall be influenced thereby, is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than ten years. ’ ’

It is sufficient to compare the above section with the information to conclude easily that the information charges the accused with an act clearly defined and punished by the said section.

The information is not unintelligible. The use of the word “gave” instead of the words “asked for” created some confusion, hut this was properly corrected in due time by the fiscal. Perhaps the information states more than is necessary to show the commission of the crime, hut by no means can this he held to be such a defect as to invalidate it.

Nor does the information charge more than one offense. The appellant maintains that to ask for a bribe is a crime, to receive it is another and to agree to receive it is still another. We agree that the crime may be committed in any of the said ways — asking for a bribe, receiving it or agreeing to receive it — -but when all three acts are committed at the same time and a person is charged with them as successive acts of a single transaction, they constitute, as in the present case, one single crime.

The question raised in the demurrer to the information having been decided and the rulings thereon being correct, as we have seen, the accused pleaded not guilty and that he had been acquitted of the same offense, and elected to be tried by a jury.'

A day having been set for the trial, different questions arose as to empanelling the jury, which questions are submitted to this court in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh assignments of error. Let us see whether of not they are well founded.

[342]*342The appellant contends that the trial court erred in overruling his general challenge to the array (a) because the panel was drawn from 180 names instead of 200 as prescribed by law, and (b) because after the 24 regular jurors had been summoned, the court, considering this number insufficient, ordered that six more and later 20 more be drawn to serve exclusively in this ease.

As to the general challenge, we will say that the transcript of the record does not confirm the alleged facts on which it is based, namely, that there were only 180 names of jurors in the box, therefore we have no basis to aid us in deciding the question raised. But even if it had been shown that there were only 180 names in the box when the jurors were drawn for. this case, that fact alone would be no ground for challenging the array.

According to law, a challenge to the array is an objection made to all the jurors returned to serve as jurors for a term of the court or .for the trial of a particular case. Said challenge can be founded only on a material departure from the forms prescribed in regard to the drawing and return of the jury or on the intentional omission to summon one or more of the jurors drawn. Sections 210, 211 and 212 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The fact that at a certain time 200 names are not found in the box does not imply that the jury commissioners failed to select 200 names as prescribed by the statute. They might prepare the complete list of 200 jurors to serve during one entire year and then something might occur to require the striking out of some of the names. The statute itself anticipated a case of this kind when it provided that if the tickets drawn from the box contain the name of any person who is dead or who may have moved permanently from the district, or who is exempt from jury service, and the fact be made to appear to the satisfaction of the court, the name of such person shall be struck from the list and another juror shall be drawn in his place. Section 200 of the Code of Criminal [343]*343Procedure. And when the name of the juror has been stricken from the list it is natural that the ticket containing the name is not returned to the box.

And- as to the fact that in addition to the 24 jurors who were serving on the regular panel the judge ordered other special jurors to be summoned for this case, we will say that we see nothing incorrect in this action. Often, in view of the importance of a case pending trial, the judge can foresee that there will be many jurors excused and challenged and in order that no unnecessary delay may occur in the administration of justice, he may order that a sufficient number of jurors be summoned to make up the jury to try the case. In this mamier the empanelling of the júry may begin with the regular jurors summoned according to section 199 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and be continued, if necessary, with the others who were summoned specially. Section 202 of the said code.

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20 P.R. 338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-vazquez-prsupreme-1914.