State v. Handrub

213 P. 827, 113 Kan. 12, 1923 Kan. LEXIS 323
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMarch 10, 1923
DocketNo. 23,513
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 213 P. 827 (State v. Handrub) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Handrub, 213 P. 827, 113 Kan. 12, 1923 Kan. LEXIS 323 (kan 1923).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Johnston, C. J.:

John Handrub was convicted upon a charge of statutory rape committed upon Alice Bayliffe, and from the judgment he has taken an appeal.

When he was arrested and brought before the justice bail was fixed at $1,000, which defendant refused to give, and the examination was continued to a day certain so that appellant could secure counsel. Another continuance was taken during which counsel was employed by defendant, and by agreement still another continuance of a week was taken. There was testimony to the effect that while defendant was in jail and his counsel absent, attorneys in behalf of the state, some of whom had brought civil actions against him for the infant child, and her father negotiated a settlement with Handrub in which he deeded to Bayliffe and his daughter 320 acres of land and executed to the attorneys a promissory note for $6,000, payment of which was secured by a mortgage on other land. It is alleged that this settlement was obtained through threats and intimidations. After the settlement the criminal action was dismissed and also the civil suits that had been brought. The defendant then left the county and went to Solomon, but on May 3, 1920, he was rearrested at the instance of a newly appointed county attorney. A trial was had which resulted in a verdict of guilty on each of the two counts» alleged in the information.

Error is assigned on the overruling of a plea in abatement. In the complaint and warrant upon which the preliminary examination was held, it was charged that the offense was committed on June 24, 1918. At the end of the examination the justice of the peace made an incomplete finding stating that an offense had been committed and probable cause shown that the defendant had committed it. The information contained two counts, one charging the commission of an offense on June 24, 1918, and another on July 25, 1918, and the defendant was found guilty on both counts. It is contended by de[14]*14fendant that no preliminary examination was given him on the charge in the second count of the information and therefore his plea in abatement as to that offense should have been sustained. At the trial the court permitted the justice of the peace to amend his transcript and make the record complete. On that examination proof was offered not only to show that an offense was committed in June, 1918, but also that several criminal acts were committed in July, 1918, continuing up to the last of that month, and this was made to appear in the amended transcript. It was competent for the court to permit the amendment so as to make it speak the truth. (The State v. Geary, 58 Kan. 502, 49 Pac. 596.) One of the purposes of a preliminary examination is to notify the defendant of the nature and character of the offense for which he is to be tried, and he must take notice from the evidence introduced on the preliminary examination as well as the papers the character of the offenses which he is required to meet. (The State v. Bailey, 32 Kan. 83, 3 Pac. 769; The State v. Fields, 70 Kan. 391, 78 Pac. 833; The State v. Pigg, 80 Kan. 481, 103 Pac. 121.) Under the statute a defendant who has had a preliminary examination upon a criminal charge may be bound over for a different felony where the evidence shows that a different one has been committed. (Crim. Code, § 55; Redmond v. The State, 12 Kan. 172; The State v. Field, supra.)

Here the evidence produced at the examination showed that defendant had committed an offense in July as well as in June, and from the evidence he had abundant notice of the charge in the second count of the information, and the purpose of the preliminary examination in that respect was subserved. No error was committed in overruling the plea in abatement.

Another assignment is that there was error in the ruling restricting the counsel for defendant in making a statement of his defense to the jury at the opening of the trial. He was stating that he expected to prove that Bayliffe and his attorneys, and also the sheriff, had conspired together to'extort money and property from defendant by threats of prosecution and intimidations by reason of the charge of rape. The court held that the facts which counsel were relating would not constitute a defense and ruled that a further statement of them should not be made.

Likewise complaint is made that the court excluded testimony offered to show threats and intimidation, by reason of which the deeds, notes and mortgages named were executed by the defendant [15]*15shortly after his first arrest, and also excluded evidence to show that civil actions had been brought by the defendant to rescind and cancel the deed, mortgage and note and to recover damages from the parties alleged to have committed the fraud upon him in case a rescission or cancellation could not be awarded. Objection was also sustained to the admission of the pleadings in the civil actions brought to cancel the obligations given in the settlement. Some other evidence touching the transactions involved in the settlement and the grounds for setting it aside was excluded by the court. We think none of these rulings constitute a basis for a reversal. The offenses for which the defendant was placed on trial had been committed months before the transactions of which defendant complains. The criminal acts charged were well sustained by the testimony. The fact, if it was a fact, that he was imposed upon in the settlement and in the execution of the deed and securities could not excuse or expiate a crime previously committed. Anything done towards compromising or compounding the offenses committed would not absolve the defendant or preclude a prosecution by the state. The issues raised in the civil suits as to fraud and conspiracy in the settlement could not be tried out in the criminal action in which the issues were whether the defendant was guilty of rape committed long prior to the time the alleged wrongs against the defendant were perpetrated. The court permitted the introduction of some testimony as to transactions had at the time of the first arrest, and of the settlement, more perhaps than was properly admissible, and this was evidently received on the theory that it tended in some degree to weaken or discredit the testimony of the state that the defendant was guilty of the offense charged. This is shown by an instruction to the jury where the court, after saying that Alice Bayliffe, her father or any of the parties acting in their behalf, could not settle the crime or crimes of rape if any were committed in violation of the criminal laws of the state, and then added:

“However, in weighing the testimony of the said Alice Bayliffe and her father Robinson Bayliffe, and for the purpose of determining their bias and prejudice, if any, and their credibility as witnesses, you have the right to take into consideration all the facts appearing in proof with reference to the bringing of the said suits, the settlements, if any, that were made, and the pendency or final disposition of such suits.”

There are a number of complaints as to rulings on the admission of evidence. One is that some of that given was in the form of conclusions, some was not responsive to questions that had been asked, [16]*16and also as to questions asked to which no answers were given. We find nothing substantial in any of these claims of error.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
213 P. 827, 113 Kan. 12, 1923 Kan. LEXIS 323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-handrub-kan-1923.