State v. Cotterel

86 P. 527, 12 Idaho 572, 1906 Ida. LEXIS 77
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 10, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 86 P. 527 (State v. Cotterel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho 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. Cotterel, 86 P. 527, 12 Idaho 572, 1906 Ida. LEXIS 77 (Idaho 1906).

Opinion

SULLIVAN, J.

The defendants in this action were informed against jointly, and tried together and convicted of grand larceny on the fifteenth day of September, 1905, for stealing a certain mare. The jury brought in two verdicts, which are as follows:

“State of Idaho, Plaintiff, v. S. H. Cotterel, Defendant.
YERDICT.
We, the jury in the above-entitled cause, find defendant guilty of grand larceny, as charged in the information.”
“In the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District of the State of Idaho, and for Bannock County.
State of Idaho, Plaintiff, v. S. W. Cotterel, Defendant.
YERDICT.
We, the jury in the above-entitled cause, find defendant guilty of grand larceny as charged in the information.”

Thereafter, and on November 1, 1905, the defendants were sentenced to serve a term of eighteen months in the state penitentiary. On the thirty-first day of October, 1905, the defendants moved for a discharge on the grounds that no judgment could be entered on the verdicts, for the reason that neither of said verdicts refer to the cause in which the defendants were tried, or in any wise connect said verdicts with the cause upon trial, or with the information against the defendants, and that each of said verdicts were void for uncertainty, which motion was overruled. A motion for a new trial was also overruled. The appeal is from the judgment.

[577]*577Several errors are specified, but -the first considered is to the form of the verdicts. It is contended by counsel for appellant that the case tried was entitled, “State of Idaho v. S. H. Cotterel and S. W. Cotterel,” and it will be observed from the form of the verdicts above quoted that in the title S. W. Cotterel is named as defendant in one and S. H. Cotterel in the other; and it is contended by counsel for appellants that 'each of said verdicts refer to some other cause than the one upon which the defendants are being tried. It would seem very peculiar if a jury sat and heard one case and rendered a verdict in another. That is what counsel says was done in this case. But we find in the record that the court very clearly advised the jury as to the different verdicts which they might find in the case. The defendants S. IT. and S. W. Cotterel were the only defendants on trial. The jury entitled one verdict, “State v. S. H. Cotterel,” and the other verdict was entitled, “S. "W. Cotterel,” in which verdicts they found each of the defendants guilty and each verdict was properly signed by their foreman. It certainly cannot be seriously contended that the jury did not intend to, and did not, find both of the defendants guilty of grand larceny as charged in the information. The fact that the jury entitled each verdict in the name of a separate defendant did not and could not prejudice the defendants. Section 8236, Revised Statutes, provides that: “Neither a departure from the form or mode prescribed by this code in respect to any pleading or proceeding, nor an error or mistake therein, renders it invalid, unless it has actually prejudiced the defendant, or tended to his prejudice in respect to a substantial right.” There is no merit in this contention.

The next contention is that the court did not have jurisdiction to pass judgment or sentence upon the defendants. It is contended that the defendants were convicted at the September, 1905, term of the district court of Bannock county, and that said term expired by limitation of law on September 19th, and that after 12 o’clock P. M., of said nineteenth day of September, an order was made adjourn[578]*578ing said term of court until the thirtieth day of October, 1905. That a term of court had been set theretofore for Bear Lake county in said judicial district, to begin on September 19, 1905, at 10 o’clock A. M. of that day, and that said order had not been set aside, or that said court had not been adjourned. That after the Bear Lake term mentioned had been held, the court reconvened in Bannock county on said thirtieth day of October, and the defendants were brought up for sentence on the verdict of September 15th, and that sentence was actually passed on November 1st. There is nothing in the record to support the contention that the term of the district court in which the ease was tried was adjourned after 12 o’clock of the nineteenth day of September, 1905, and there is nothing in the record to show that the Bear Lake term had not been adjourned over that day. We cannot presume that the court would violate the statute. Section 3832, Revised Statutes, is as follows: “The court may adjourn from time to time during the term, and may, when the public convenience requires, adjourn the term over the time fixed by law for the commencement of another term in the same district.”

It was said in Talbert v. Hopper, 42 Cal. 397, as follows: ‘ ‘ There is nothing in the record before this court to show that the terms and conditions of this act (of the legislature) have not been fully answered, and in the absence of such showing in the record, it must be presumed that what was done by the court below was properly and legally done. Error is not to be presumed, but when alleged it must be affirmatively shown.” The “act” referred to by the court in that case corresponds substantially to said section 3832. (See, also, People v. Ah Ying, 42 Cal. 18; State v. Montgomery, 8 Kan. 351; State v. Palmer, 40 Kan. 474, 20 Pac. 270; State v. Rogers, 56 Kan. 362, 43 Pac. 256.)

In Baker v. Knott, 3 Idaho, 700, 35 Pac. 172, this court held that where the record failed to show the date of the adjournment of a term of the district court, at which an order was made vacating a judgment, laches will not be presumed, [579]*579and that this court cannot take judicial notice of the adjournment of terms of the district courts. That being true those matters must be brought to this court by bill of’ exceptions, or in some legal manner, before they can be considered on appeal.

Counsel also contends that there was error in giving instruction No. 4a, which instruction is as follows: “As to the ownership of the mare described in the information the jury, in order to convict, would have to find that the mare, at the time she was taken by the defendants, was the property of George E. Hellewell. You have heard the testimony of the witnesses George E. Hellewell, and his son, in this respect. You have heard the witness George E. Hellewell state what the arrangement was between him and his son with reference to the horses, which in effect was that his son should gather the horses of the quarter circle 76 brand, and that when the same were gathered and sold that his son should have the one-half of the proceeds therefrom. Now, if this were the ease, such an agreement with his son would not constitute any ownership in the son until the horses were gathered, and if you should find that the horses were taken before they were gathered or before young Hellewell had done anything with reference to. carrying out the agreement between him and his father, then there would be no ownership in the property of the mare taken except that of George E. Hellewell.”

It is alleged in the information that the ownership of the mare stolen was in G. E. Hellewell. Hellewell was called as the first witness for the prosecution, and was asked no question in regard to the ownership of the mare.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 P. 527, 12 Idaho 572, 1906 Ida. LEXIS 77, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cotterel-idaho-1906.