State ex rel. Henson v. Sheppard

91 S.W. 477, 192 Mo. 497, 1905 Mo. LEXIS 178
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 22, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 91 S.W. 477 (State ex rel. Henson v. Sheppard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Henson v. Sheppard, 91 S.W. 477, 192 Mo. 497, 1905 Mo. LEXIS 178 (Mo. 1905).

Opinion

LAMM, J.

Suggestion for prohibition. Relator is the duly elected, qualified and acting clerk of the circuit court within and for Butler county. Respondent is the duly appointed, qualified and acting judge of said court. On the 22nd day of June, 1905, there were filed in said court by Joseph T. Davidson, prosecuting attorney of Butler county, two informations: in one, Henson stands charged with feloniously, willfully, deliberately and premeditately, with malice aforethought, assaulting one William Heck with a loaded shotgun on the 14th of April, 1905, and then and there feloniously killing said Heck by said assault and weapon; in the other, he is charged with murdering one Sylvester IT. Adams [501]*501on the same day, in the same manner and with a similar lethal weapon.

Henson, being arrested and refused bail, was released on bond by proceedings in habeas corpus in this court, and by an entry of record in the Butler Circuit Court the cases were set down for hearing on August 14, 1905.

An abridgment of the proceedings below will not be uninstructive on the issues presented here. Attending thereto, it appears that on the 15th of July, Henson filed in propria persona sedente curia a suggestion to the effect that he was clerk of the circuit court of Butler county, with the ex-officio, duty of issuing process, swearing witnesses and jurors, of making record entries and having the custody of court files and records; that he stood charged in informations, preferred and on file in said court, with the crime of murdering two men, Heck and Adams; was in custody of the law, but was innocent of said charges; that as clerk he had custody of the papers and the files in the cases wherein he was defendant and was burdened with the duty of issuing subpoenas, etc., and writing record entries ordered by the court therein. That he neither wished to incur the unseemly embarrassment or the responsibility incident to the personal performance of clerical duties in said causes, and, to that end, had agreed with the prosecuting attorney that some competent person be appointed by the court to perform the duties of circuit clerk, respecting said causes only, which agreement was to be spread of record to the end that the State as well as Henson be precluded from questioning the legality or validity thereof. That the prosecuting attorney receded from the agreement and, inasmuch as he had done so, he (Henson) now requested the court to designate some suitable person to qualify as a clerk pro tern, or as deputy circuit clerk and who might be charged with the safekeeping of all files and papers, issue all process, write all record entries and do all things required by law nee[502]*502essary to be done in and about said causes only; or in lieu thereof that the court designate some suitable person to act as clerk of said court respecting said causes only, and that the record show that such person so designated as clerk was designated upon the motion and at the request of defendant in said causes or that such other and additional orders be entered of record as will effectually bind defendant respecting the same.

Notwithstanding said suggestion so made by Henson, the presecuting attorney, acting we doubt not out of abundance of caution, concluded to follow lines laid down by himself. To that end, he filed in the said court his ex-officio complaint on the 21st day of July, 1905, whereby he set forth his own official title and duties, as well as Henson’s, and averred that Henson shot and killed Adams and Heck on the 14th day of April, 1905, in said Butler county, and for said killing stood charged in two informations with murder in the first degree; that the trial is fixed for August 14, 1905, that Henson is under bond in the sum of $10,000 in each case and has custody of the records and files in said causes. That in order to get ready for trial, it is now necessary to have process issued for witnesses and make various and divers entines of record in said causes, wherefore it is declared and insisted upon that Plenson is incapacitated to be the custodian of his own bonds and recognizances, to be the custodian of the evidence taken before the coroner’s jury and the committing magistrate, to be custodian of the informations preferred against him, to issue process for witnesses against himself and to make record entries in either of said causes. And the complaint ends with a prayer that the court make an order suspending said Lida M. Henson “from doing or performing any of the duties of the clerk of the circuit, court of Butler county, Missouri, and to maintain and enforce such order of suspension so long as said charges of murder in the first degree against him ... shall remain pending and undetermined” in said court, [503]*503and “to appoint some competent person to perform all the duties of clerk of said court so long as said suspension order remains in force.

Subsequently and on the 24th day of July, 1905, defendant through counsel demurred to the aforesaid complaint, substantially on the grounds following: (1) for that the complaint does not purport to be based on knowledge furnished by the court, in the shape or form of notice, to said prosecuting attorney, stating the charges against said defendant, nor is it based on the oath or affirmation of any other person or persons; (2) for that none of the charges relate to any misdemeanor in the office of circuit clerk, and the defendant before conviction is presumed to be innocent of the charges actually preferred: (3) for that the circuit court is without power to grant the relief prayed for in said complaint; (4) and for that said-complaint does not state facts sufficient to state a cause of action.

So much for the status below.

On the 25th day of July relator served notice on respondent of his intention to apply here for a writ of prohibition and on the 1st day of August did present his petition for such writ, which in substance sets forth the aforesaid facts and avers, inter alia, that notwithstanding his said demurrrer filed below wherein the attention of respondent was directed to his lack of power, and notwithstanding the fact that the said complaint of the prosecuting attorney does not charge relator with the commission of any misdemeanor or misdeed whatever in relation to his duties as clerk of said court or in office, respondent assumed jurisdiction to hear said complaint and did hear the same, and, without authority or jurisdiction, was proceeding to suspend relator from his said office and appoint some other person in his stead, and would have appointed some'other person to fill said office had not relator served bim with notice of his intention to apply here for a writ of prohibition. That upon the service of said notice respondent an[504]*504nounced to relator and all concerned that he would withhold final judgment until the 12th day of August, 1905, at which time he would in all things sustain the complaint of the prosecuting attorney and would suspend relator from office and appoint some other person in his stead unless this court interfered for relator’s protection. That respondent is without power to try relator or do what he threatens to do because: (1) no charges are preferred against relator which allege the commission of a misdemeanor or misdeed in the performance of his duties as clerk of said court; (2) that respondent has no right or power to suspend relator except under such power as is conferred by statute (R. S. 1899, sec.

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Bluebook (online)
91 S.W. 477, 192 Mo. 497, 1905 Mo. LEXIS 178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-henson-v-sheppard-mo-1905.