People v. Youngberg

53 Colo. 322
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedApril 15, 1912
DocketNo. 7539
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 53 Colo. 322 (People v. Youngberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Youngberg, 53 Colo. 322 (Colo. 1912).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Hill

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant in error was convicted of the crime of petty larceny before a justice of the peace; the judgment was a sentence of sixty days in the county jail. On the day following his conviction and sentence, he filed his petition in the county court praying for a writ of certiorari. Among other things it set forth the facts above stated with the further statement that the petitioner was without any'remedy by way'of appeal by reason of there not having been any fine imposed upon him as a part of the sentence, for which reason he has no' plain, speedy and adequate remedy at law and that the conviction and sentence can only be reviewed by certiorari. The writ was issued. The defendant gave bond, and a stay of further proceedings was ordered. The district attorney moved that the writ be quashed and the defendant be remanded to the sheriff. This motion was denied. The defendant was ultimately tried and acquitted. The district attorney brings the law question here for review upon error.

It is conceded that if appeals lie from a conviction in a justice of the peace court to the county court in petty larceny, cases where a prison sentence only is imposed, that the petition did not state facts sufficient to justify the issuance of1 the writ, for the reason that if an appeal lies the petition itself shows that the defendant had a plain, speedy .and adequate remedy at law, in order to secure á trial de novo in the' county court, and that this remedy was then in existence and continued to exist for nine days after his petition was filed. The learned trial judge took the position that it was intended that some remedy should be afforded in such cases, but that the provision for ap[324]*324peals in all cases, where a jail sentence is imposed.by a, justice of the peace, was inoperative; that the statute presents a case of casus omissus, in that it fails to make any provision for a bond in cases where the judgment of the justice of the peace is imprisonment only. That the statute is somewhat defective in this respect is apparent. That it shows conclusively it was the intention of. the legislature to grant appeals from all such convictions is likewise apparent. The complaint was drawn b)' authority of sections 1695-1696, Revised Statutes, 1908, which give justices of the peace jurisdiction in cases, of petit larceny and provide punishments (1) a fine not exceeding $100; (2) or imprisonment at hard labor for a term not exceeding sixty days; (3) or both such fine and imprisonment.

Section 1701, Revised Statutes, 1908, which is part of the original enactment, of which sections 1695-1696, supra, are a part, provides, “Appeal may be taken to the district court by the accused when convicted under this act, in the same manner and on the same terms as is now provided by law for appeals in cases of assault, assault and battery, and affrays.” This was changed by section 3845, Revised Statutes, 1908, which was enacted in 1877; it provides that, “All appeals from judgments of justices of the peace, both in civil and criminal actions, shall be taken to the county court of the same county, and no appeal shall lie from a judgment of a justice of the peace in any cause, civil or criminal, to the district court.”

Since its adoption the section last quoted makes the provision of section 1701, supra, refer directly to and it should be considered in connection with section 3869, Revised Statutes, 1908, which was adopted in 1861; it reads as follows :

“If any person convicted of any criminal offense, before any justice of the peace, shall wish to appeal to the county court, he shall signify the same to the justice of the peace who gave the judgment, and the justice shall give him a statement of the amount of the fine and costs, and upon producing the same to the clerk of the county court of the proper county, the clerk shall write a bond to the people of the state of Colorado, [325]*325in a penalty double the amount of the fine, and a sufficiency to cover all costs, conditioned for the payment of the amount of whatever judgment the court may render against the defendant; which the said party appealing shall execute, with sufficient security, to be approved by the said clerk; and when such bond shall be executed, the clerk shall notify the justice who tried the cause thereof, and the said justice shall stay all further proceedings, and return the papers to the next succeeding term of the county court, when the same shall be tried; Provided, All such appeals shall be prayed for and the bond executed within ten days after the judgment rendered.”

It will thus be observed that the intention is clearly expressed to allow appeals in all cases and that there is no provision limiting- an appeal to cases in which a fine has been imposed as all or a part of the penalty.

Section 3869, supra, directs the amount of bond required to cover fines imposed by the justice and the amount required to guaranty the payment of1 costs, but becausee it does not provide for an appearance bond it is claimed that an appeal cannot be.granted in a cause where the judgment is a jail sentence. Section 3869, supra, was considered in Lawn v. People, 11 Colo. 343; the defendant there had been convicted by a justice of the peace of petty larceny; a fine was imposed; he appealed to the county court; upon the date of trial he failed to appear; the case was tried to a jxtry in his absence, which returned a verdict of guilty. Upon account of the absence of the defendant this court held that the trial was a nullity. In commenting upon the appeal bond provided by statute, the court, at page 344, said in part:

“The bond provided for such appeals is conditioned, not for the appearance of the accused, but for the payment of the fine. * * * It is true, the appeal bond provided for by the statute is .not such as to secure the attendance of the accused in the appellate court, but this is matter for the legislature to correct. The defect is not to be supplied by the abrogation, by this court, of well-settled rules.”

[326]*326At the next session of the legislature after this amendment, general section 1545, Revised Statutes, 1908, was enacted ; the last sentence of which is as follows, “In general, all laws in reference to proceedings and practice in original cases now in force in the district courts, shall also be in force in county courts, under the same circumstances.”

Thereafter, in 1894, in Morris v. The People, 5 Colo. App. 138, the defendant was convicted before a justice of the peace and appealed*to the county court; at the time for trial the defendant failed to appear. The appeal was dismissed and the cause remanded to the justice of the peace. This was held error. The court said,

“Probably the county court dismissed the appeal on the hypothesis that, as the statute pointed out no method by which a recalcitrant defendant could be brought into- court to answer the charge, the court was powerless to -do. otherwise than remand the case. This cannot be, since the court had full power to issue the requisite process- to bring the defendant in and force him to a trial. * * * What has been said is sufficient to indicate to the court below what should be done in the present case.” ' ; ’

In Vickers v. The People, 30 Colo.

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Related

Aranda v. Patterson
361 P.2d 782 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1961)
West v. People
261 P.2d 513 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1953)
Smith v. Phelps
28 P.2d 1004 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
53 Colo. 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-youngberg-colo-1912.