State v. . Daniels

46 S.E. 743, 134 N.C. 641, 1904 N.C. LEXIS 140
CourtSupreme Court of North Carolina
DecidedMarch 8, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 46 S.E. 743 (State v. . Daniels) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. . Daniels, 46 S.E. 743, 134 N.C. 641, 1904 N.C. LEXIS 140 (N.C. 1904).

Opinion

OonnoR, J.

Tbe prisoner was charged with tbe murder of F. G. Simmons, and in apt time filed a plea in abatement and moved tbe Court to quash tbe indictment for that:

1. Tbe list of thirty-six jurors drawn by tbe County Commissioners of Jones County, from which tbe grand jury was drawn, and which found tbe bill of indictment, was revised with partiality, unjustly and purposely against competent persons of tbe negro race, to which tbe prisoner belongs, on account of tbe race or color of such persons.

Tbe officers whose duty it was to revise tbe jury lists and to draw tbe panel to be summoned, from which tbe grand and petit juries were drawn for tbe present term of tbe Court, at which tbe indictment was found against tbe prisoner, with tbe unlawful and avowed purpose of discriminating against persons of the negro race, excluded the persons who of right, being competent, should not have been excluded from the jury lists; that such unjust and unlawful discrimination against tbe prisoner deprives him of a fair and impartial trial in this Court, as is guaranteed to him under the Constitution of North Carolina and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to tbe Constitution of tbe United States and the Acts of Congress; that there are in Jones County about seven thousand persons, more than one-third of whom are of tbe negro race, who pay taxes on more than thirty *643 thousand dollars worth of property, a large number of whom are equal to the average citizen of said county. In accordance with the request of the prisoner, the Court caused subpoenas duces tecum to issue to the chairman of the board of commissioners, the register of deeds (ex officio clerk to the board) and the Sheriff of the county, commanding them to bring their several records into Court, and also the jury boxes, etc. The motion to quash was founded upon the affidavit of the prisoner. The Court, after hearing the testimony offered in support of the motion, found the following facts: The jury box contains the names of four hundred and thirty persons. It does not appear, and the Court is unable to find, whether any of said persons are negroes. There are five hundred and twenty-eight colored males residing in ' J ones County over twenty-one years of age who had paid their taxes for the year 1902 prior to June 1, 1903. There are as many white males over twenty-one years of age and upwards residing in said county whose names are not in the jury box as there are colored males of the same age whose names are not in said box. The jury boxes were revised on the first Monday in June, 1903, as required by law — the commissioners talcing the tax books or lists for the preceding year, and selecting from said tax books or lists the names of such persons as they thought were competent and morally fit to sit on the jury, and placing the names thus selected in the jury box. In selecting the names to be placed in the jury box the commissioners did not think of or discuss the race question. They considered only the question of competency and fitness. They did not make the payment of taxes a prerequisite. They discussed the qualification of various negroes and white men, and rejected their names when they decided they were not competent and fit. The only test which was applied was capacity and fitness of persons whose names appeared on the tax list. The com *644 missioners at their regular meeting in September, 1903, before tbe commission of the alleged offense for which the prisoner is indicted, drew from the jury boxes of the county the names of thirty-six persons to serve as jurors at this term of the Court. They were drawn in the manner required by law. The thirty-six persons whose names were so drawn and were summoned to serve as jurors at this term of the Court were all white persons. The grand jury was regularly drawn from the thirty-six jurors drawn and summoned as above set forth. It appeared from an examination of the said grand jurors, before they were empaneled, that each of said grand jurors had paid his tax for the year 1902. The total population of Jones County is 8,239, of which 4,479 are whites and 3,760 are colored. The prisoner is a negro. Upon the foregoing findings of fact the motion to quash the bill of indictment is overruled, and the defendant excepted, assigning as cause thereof:

1. That'the Court erred in not finding that none of the names contained in the jury boxes are the names of negroes.
2. That the Court should, from the evidence, have found that the test was not honestly applied, and that negroes or persons of the colored race were unjustly excluded on account of race and color.
3. That there is no evidence upon which to base the findings.

The prisoner was thereupon arraigned and pleaded not guilty. From a judgment pronounced upon a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree he appealed.

The prisoner, by his motion to quash the indictment for the causes set forth, evidently intended to present the question passed upon by this Court in State v. Peoples, 131 N. C., 784. In accordance with the ruling in that case his Honor granted to the prisoner a subpoena cluces tecum for the chairman of the board of commissioners, with the jury box, and *645 suck other witnesses as the prisoner desired to examine. Counsel for the prisoner in this Court conceded that there was nothing in the statutes prescribing the qualification of grand or petit jurors or the mode of selecting them, conflicting with the Constitution of the United States or the amendments thereto. Ilis Honor finds that, “in selecting the names to be placed in the jury box, the commissioners did not think of or discuss the race question. They considered only the question of competency and fitness. They did not make the payment of taxes a prerequisite, they discussed the qualifications of various negroes and white men, and rejected their names when they decided they were not competent or fit.” In Carter v. Texas, 177 U. S., 442, the defendant, ’ in apt time and by a proper motion, alleged that all persons of the colored race, etc., were excluded from the jury list “on the ground of their race and color, etc.” He offered to introduce witnesses and requested the Court to permit him to do so to sustain the allegation. The Court declined to hear any testimony in support of the motion and overruled the same. The Supreme Court of the United States, reversing the Texas Court, held that, upon the allegations made in the motion, the defendant had been denied a right duly set up and claimed under the Constitution of the United States. This ruling was followed by this Court in State v. Peoples, supra. His Honor, in strict conformity with these authorities, granted the subpoenas, heard the testimony, and found the facts in regard to the manner of making up the jury lists as set out in the record. The prisoner’s counsel properly conceded that upon the record it does not appear that the prisoner has been denied any right secured to him by the Federal Constitution. He insisted, however, that upon the findings of the Court it appears that the commissioners have failed to comply with the statutes regarding the manner of making up the jury list from which the grand *646 and petit jurors were drawn-.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
46 S.E. 743, 134 N.C. 641, 1904 N.C. LEXIS 140, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-daniels-nc-1904.