Reed v. State

46 N.E. 135, 147 Ind. 41, 1897 Ind. LEXIS 6
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 17, 1897
DocketNo. 17,858
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 46 N.E. 135 (Reed v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reed v. State, 46 N.E. 135, 147 Ind. 41, 1897 Ind. LEXIS 6 (Ind. 1897).

Opinion

Hackney, J.

The appellant was charged by indictment in two counts, first with burglary, and second with larceny, and upon a trial by jury, before a special judge, he was convicted of burglary, as charged in said [43]*43first count, and his punishment fixed at three years in the State’s prison, and disfranchisement. Motions were made and overruled to quash the counts of the indictment jointly and severally, and the rulings are claimed to have been erroneous because of the failure, in the count for burglary, to describe the goods intended to be stolen, as the same goods charged in the second count to have been stolen. Under section 1817, Burns’R. S. 1894 (1748, R. S. 1881), it has been properly held that such description is not required. McCollough v. State, 132 Ind. 427. In case of the improper joinder of counts, and a conviction upon one count only, there is no error in such misjoinder. Myers v. State, 92 Ind. 390. Neither was it error to deny appellant’s motion to require the appellee to elect upon which count the trial should proceed. Glover v. State, 109 Ind. 391; Meyers v. State, supra; Short v. State, 63 Ind. 376; Mershon v. State, 51 Ind. 14; Griffith v. State, 36 Ind. 406.

In various forms, the question is presented as to the action of the trial court in sentencing the appellant, in a room other than the usual public court room, and in thereafter passing upon .the motion for a new trial, in his absence. We suppose the first question is intended to find support in the thirteenth section of the Bill of Eights, which secures to an accused “the right to a public trial,” and we presume counsel had in view, with reference to the second of these questions, that provision of section 1855, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (1788, R. S. 1881), that “No person prosecuted for any offense punishable * * * by confinement in the state prison * * * shall be tried unless personally present during the trial.” Either question presents the inquiry as to the force and meaning of the word “trial.” “The requirement of a public trial is for the benefit of the accused; that the public may see he is [44]*44fairly dealt with and not unjustly condemned, and that the presence of interested spectators may keep his triers keenly alive to a sense of their responsibility and to the importance of their functions.” Cooley’s Con. Lim. (5th ed.), 380. Unless, therefore, the formal declaration of the sentence is a part of the trial within the spirit or the letter of the Bill of Rights, as expressed, no error was committed. It has been held that the hearing of‘a motion to quash an indictment, Epps v. State, 102 Ind. 539, and the overruling of a motion for a new trial, People v. Ormsby, 48 Mich. 494, 12 N. W. 671, in the absence of the accused, were not parts of the trial as contemplated by the statutory and constitutional rule. Numerous cases hold that questions of pleading do not relate to the trial. Blackstone’s definition of trial is, *the examination of the matter of fact in issue. Black. Com. 330. “In criminal law, an actual trial by jury; not, the arraignment, and pleadings preparatory thereto.” Anderson’s Law Die. 1054; United States v. Curtis, 4 Mason 236. It is true, Bicknell’s Grim. Practice, p. 212, says, the judgment should be pronounced in open court, and, we think, this is correct. It is said, also, in Sir Thomas Raymond’s Rep. 68: “If H. be convicted upon verdict upon an information or indictment, his fine ought to be set in open court, and not privately in the judge’s chamber.” The setting of the fine, however, is the act of the trier, under our system, and should be done in the same public manner in which the evidence is heard. Ordering the judgment, or pronouncing the sentence is not a part of the trial, and in this case was but the formal declaration of the result of the trial. While we would be slow to lend our sanction to such secrecy and exclusion in the proceedings of a court, in administering the criminal laws, as to suppress its sentences and judgments [45]*45from the public, or to deny the friends of an accused the right to be present on such an occasion, it does not appear, in this case, that the court was not regularly in session, with proper notice of the place of its sitting, and with full opportunity for interested persons to be present.

It many times happens that from special emergency, steps are taken in a cause before a special judge, as in this case, while another cause is on trial,and rendering it necessary to occupy a room in the court house, other than the court room. If in doing so no legal or constitutional right of the accused is infringed, and it is manifest that no substantial injury has been done, error is not available if it exists.

Neither does it appear from the record or briefs of counsel that the appellant was prejudiced by the action of the court in rendering judgment before the motion for a new trial was filed and passed upon. Calvert v. State, 91 Ind. 473. There is conflict in the evidence, and the first and second causes for a new trial — that the verdict is not supported by the evidence, and that it is contrary to the evidence — must fail, since we are not permitted to pass upon conflicts in the evidence, and it is not claimed that no evidence supports the verdict. There are over fifty other causes for a new trial assigned in the motion, some of which are not argued, some are expressly waived, and some involve questions already passed upon. Those not so disposed of relate to, 1. Alleged misconduct of the prosecuting attorney in the argument; 2. Misconduct of jury in reading, during deliberation upon their verdict, a newspaper containing severe strictures upon the appellant and his defense; 3. Instructions, given by the court, and 4. The admission of evidence objected to. Of the first of these, it is complained that the prosecuting attorney commented upon the wealth [46]*46of a witness for the State as a reason for giving credit to his evidence. Various objections were urged to such comment, and the attorney for the appellant requested the court to instruct the prosecutor to desist from further statements of like character, and to require retraction of said comment by him. The exception taken was “to the ruling of the court against this request” so made. There was some evidence before the jury of extensive property ownership by the witness, probably justifying comment, and it was an inference for the jury as to whether he was credible. The exception reserved was much narrower than the objection made below and discussed here. A particular statement was before the court, it was not a question of instruction as to future argument of like character and while within the province of the trial court to withdraw from the jury an improper argument by counsel, it is not the court’s duty to require the attorney to retract an improper statement. We observe no prejudice to the rights of the appellant in the inference suggested by the prosecutor, and certainly none within the scope of the exception reserved.

Complaint is also made of the comment of counsel for the gState upon the length of time consumed by the defense in the trial, and of a comparison thereof with the time occupied in another trial. While the fact of such other trial having taken place was before the jury, the duration of that trial was not in evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
46 N.E. 135, 147 Ind. 41, 1897 Ind. LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reed-v-state-ind-1897.