State v. Bragg

63 Mo. App. 22, 1895 Mo. App. LEXIS 141
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided May 28, 1895·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Bond, J.

On the twenty-second of March, 1894, an information was filed against defendant in the circuit court of St. Louis county, charging him with executing a fraudulent conveyance of certain real estate, and putting the same in use as having been made in good faith, with intent to defraud certain creditors mentioned in the information. The information was signed by the prosecuting attorney. Below his signature there was written an undated and unsigned jurat. This information recited, among other things, in avoidance of the statute of limitations of one year, that a former information filed against the defendant for the same offense was quashed September 18, 1893.

Defendant gave bond for his appearance at the following term of the court, at which time he applied for a change of venue, which was allowed by the court on the eighth of June of said term upon the recognizance of defendant then entered into for his appearance at the next term of the circuit court of Grasconade county. During the same term of the circuit court of St. Louis county, whereat the change of venue was thus granted, the prosecuting attorney filed a motion to set aside the said* order granting the change of venue and for permission to the clerk to affix to the form of jurat on the information his official signature, the seal of the court and the date of March 22, 1894, being the time when the information was filed. On the eighth of August, and at the same term, the court sustained said motion to set aside the order changing the venue, and granted leave “to file an amended information.” At the following term on November 30, 1894, the court made a further order giving leave [24] to the prosecuting attorney to amend the affidavit to the information by inserting therein the date March 22, 1894, and the signature of the clerk attesting the jurat, which, as above seen, was wanting in the information filed. The cause was thereafter tried by the court, a jury being waived, and judgment of conviction entered on December 7, 1894, from which this appeal is prosecuted.

The evidence disclosed that the defendant made a deed on the twenty-eighth of September, 1891, to the real estate described in the information to one Hubbard for the consideration of $1,436.50 and the assumption by the grantee of prior encumbrances amounting to $3,680; that, on the same day, said Hubbard released five deeds of trust in his favor made by defendant on the same property and securing an aggregate indebtedness of $1,233.38 with interest from the date of the several deeds of trust; that these two conveyances were filed for record within a few moments of each other, the release first, and the deed immediately thereafter; that about four days prior to these conveyances the defendant had a conversation with certain of his creditors, named in the information, and their attorney, and sought to secure a continuance of the suits then pending for trial against him; that in these conversations he said that, if the,suits in question were' not continued until January, “it would be worse for them and better for him.” The continuance was refused, and, on October 7, 1891, said creditors secured judgments against defendant aggregating $2,274.52. Executions under these judgments were levied upon the property deeded by defendant to Hubbard, which was sold by the sheriff and purchased by said creditors.

It is insisted that the order of court, changing the venue to Gasconade county upon the recognizance of defendant to appear at that court, was divestiture of [25] jurisdiction, on the part of the circuit court of St. Louis county, of the subject-matter and the person of defendant, until the cause should be remanded by some order of the court to which it had been transferred. When a change of venue .is legally ordered and the term has expired, the court making such transfer loses all further jurisdiction of the cause. In the case at bar the order rescinding the one for change of venue was made at the same term and by consent of the defendant through his attorney. Such consent was equivalent to prior notice and to the actual presence of defendant — this being a misdemeanor — when the rescinding order was made. That the court, upon notice to defendant and in his presence, had the power at the same term to set aside a previous order for a change of venue can not be denied under the decisions in this state. State v. Webb, 74 Mo. 333; Leise v. Mitchell, 53 Mo. App. 563; Colvin v. Six, 79 Mo. 198. Nor can it be doubted that the court had the power at the same term to set aside a change of venue, if the same had been improvidently granted. State v. Gabriel, 88 Mo. 631. Neither of these propositions are contravened by the decision of Judge G-antt in State v. Noland, 111 Mo. loc. cit. 473. It was merely held in that case that, before an entry of an order of removal, it was competent for the court to permit the defendant to withdraw his application for such order. This announcement in no wise overrules the doctrine of the cases cited above. The point made by appellant as to want of power in the circuit court to rescind its order under the facts shown in this record is untenable.

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State v. Bragg, 63 Mo. App. 22, 1895 Mo. App. LEXIS 141 (Mo. Ct. App. 1895).

63 Mo. App. 22 (State v. Bragg) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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