State v. B

182 N.W. 474, 173 Wis. 608, 1921 Wisc. LEXIS 89
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedApril 5, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 182 N.W. 474 (State v. B) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. B, 182 N.W. 474, 173 Wis. 608, 1921 Wisc. LEXIS 89 (Wis. 1921).

Opinion

Rosiínberry, J.

It is the contention of the defendant here that he cannot be further proceeded against because, first, he was upon the first trial acquitted of the charge of adultery; second, that upon the second trial the jury was sworn, and charged with his deliverance, and he was therefore placed in jeopardy and cannot again be placed in jeopardy for the same offense; and third, that the state is not entitled to sue out a writ of error to review the proceedings of the trial court because no statutoiy authority therefor exists.

We shall consider the second and third objections first, for if upon the second trial jeopardy attached the state has no right of appeal and the appeal should therefore be dismissed. Sec. 4724a, Stats., provides:

“A writ of error may be taken by and on behalf of the state in criminal cases:
“(1) . . .
“(2) From an order or judgment sustaining a plea in abatement or a special plea in bar made or rendered, before jeopardy has attached.
“(3) From any final order or judgment, adverse to the state, made or rendered before jeopanty has attached.”

Under either of these provisions, if jeopardy has attached there is on the part of the state no authority for taking an appeal. The general rule is that when a person has been placed on trial on a valid indictment or information before a court of competent jurisdiction, has been arraigned and has pleaded, and a jury has been impaneled and sworn, jeopardy has attached. Schultz v. State, 135 Wis. 644, 114 [614]*614N. W. 505, 116 N. W. 259, 571; McDonald v. State, 79 Wis. 651, 48 N. W. 863; State v. Parish, 43 Wis. 395.

“Sec. 4645a. Any objection to a prosecution or the sufficiency of an indictment or information that may be raised by motion to quash, demurrer, plea in abatement, or special plea in bar, shall be so raised before a jury is impaneled or testimony taken, and unless so raised, shall be deemed waived; . . . Provided that the court may, in its discretion, on the application of the defendant, entertain any such objection at a later stage of the trial, but in every such case the application shall constitute a waiver, by the defendant, of any jeopardy that has theretofore attached.”

If it be admitted for the purposes of this case that when the jury was sworn the defendant was thereby placed in jeopardy, it must be held, under the provisions of this statute, that when the defendant thereafter proceeded to a trial of the issue raised by the answer to the plea in bar it constituted a waiver of such jeopardy and the case then stood for all purposes as if jeopardy had not attached. Apparently the proceedings were not conducted either on the part of the court or the parties with reference to the provisions of sec. 4645a. We think, however, that it appears that the defendant entered upon the trial of the issue raised by the answer to the plea in bar under such circumstances as amounted to a waiver, although there was no express appeal made for the exercise of the court’s discretion. The filing of the plea, the answer thereto, the offer of evidence by the defendant upon the issue raised by the plea, its reception by the court, and the demand of the defendant for trial by the court, amounted to the making of an application which constituted waiver on his part of any jeopardy that had theretofore attached, if any had attached. The jeopardy referred to in sec. 4724a is a jeopardy which has not been waived by the defendant and one which would protect him under-the constitution. Manifestly the section cannot refer to a jeopardy which had attached but which has- been waived; otherwise the provision of sec. 4645a requiring the [615]*615defendant as a condition of having his motion to quash, demurrer, plea in abatement, or special plea in bar heard after jeopardy has attached and as a condition of such hearing to waive such jeopardy, would be ineffectual.

The requirement that the defendant waive such jeopardy as has attached as a condition precedent to the exercise by the court of its discretion was manifestly made for the purpose of reserving to the state its right to a writ of error under sec. 4724a. Secs. 4645a and 4724a were ch. 187 of the Laws of 1911, relate to the same subject matter, and should therefore be read and construed together. Upon this branch of the case we hold, first, that at the time of the rendition of the judgment discharging the defendant jeopardy upon the second trial l^ad not attached within the meaning of sec. 4724a; second, the state was entitled, under the circumstances, to take out a writ of error, and that the cause is properly before us.

Was the defendant, upon the first trial, acquitted of the charge of adultery? Upon that trial the court, having described the offenses charged in the first and second counts, charged the jury as follows:

“Both of these charges are based upon the same circumstances. If the jury should find the defendant guilty of one, then of necessity you could not find him guilty of the other. In other words, you cannot find the defendant guilty of more than one of the charges that are included in the information. ... It appears in this case without dispute that the defendant was on September 3, 1916, a married man, and that the said Edna Mann was and still is an unmarried woman. ... In Amur deliberations after retiring to your juiy room, you should first consider the question whether the defendant is guilty of rape.If, however, you do not all become convinced by the evidence, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the defendant is guilty of rape, then you should next consider the question whether the defendant is guilty of adultery as charged.”

The jury found the defendant guilty of rape, and under the instruction of the court made no finding as to adultery. [616]*616It is the contention of the defendant that he was thereby, in effect, acquitted of the charge of adultery. In State v. Hill, 30 Wis. 416, it was held that a verdict which finds a defendant guilty on a part only of an indictment or information containing several counts and is silent as to the other .counts, is equivalent to a verdict of not guilty as to such other counts and must be so regarded. See, also, Hechter v. State, 94 Md. 429, 50 Atl. 1041, 56 L. R. A. 457; State v. Martin, 30 Wis. 216. Whether or not such a result should follow where the court, in effect, withdraws from the consideration of the jury a count, we shall not attempt to determine in this case. In this case the court instructed the jury that in the event that they found the defendant guilty of rape they could not of necessity find the defendant guilty of adultery, and the instruction amounted to a direction to the jury that if they found the defendant guilty of rape they should not consider whether or not the defendant was guilty of the crime of adultery. Under these instructions, the jury having found the defendant guilty of rape, the question of whether or not he was guilty of adultery was, in practical effect, withdrawn. It has been held that where the consideration of distinct offenses has been withdrawn from the jury and such distinct offenses were not considered, jeopardy did attach. Montgomery v. State, 136 Wis. 119, 116 N. W. 876; Hoffman v. State, 97 Wis. 571, 73 N. W. 51; Perkins v. State, 78 Wis. 551, 47 N. W. 827.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
182 N.W. 474, 173 Wis. 608, 1921 Wisc. LEXIS 89, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-b-wis-1921.