State v. Hyde

61 P. 719, 22 Wash. 551, 1900 Wash. LEXIS 311
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJune 22, 1900
DocketNo. 3522
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 61 P. 719 (State v. Hyde) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington 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. Hyde, 61 P. 719, 22 Wash. 551, 1900 Wash. LEXIS 311 (Wash. 1900).

Opinion

The opihion of the court was delivered by

White, J.

The indictment in this case charges the appellant and one John Hildebrand with the crime of robbery, alleging that said appellant and Hildebrand, in Pierce county, “on the 3d day of July, 1899, then and there being, unlawfully and feloniously and forcibly did make an assault upon one George Hyde and then and there four dollars and twenty-five cents, lawful money of the United States of the value of four dollars and twenty-five cents, then and there being the personal property of him, the said George Hyde, from the person and against the will of the said George Hyde, feloniously, unlawfully, forcibly, by violence, and by putting the said George Hyde in fear, did take, steal, and carry away, with intent then and there the said property aforesaid feloniously to steal, contrary,” etc.

[554]*554The respondent’s motion to strike certain affidavits and a written statement from the transcript must be denied, because the court certifies that the same were presented to the court and passed upon and examined on the hearing of the motion for a new trial and in arrest of judgment.

At the close of the testimony for the state, appellant moved the discharge of the appellant. Further on in this opinion we will discuss the points raised by this motion.

The appellant, after trial and verdict, filed a motion in arrest of judgment. One reason urged was, “Illegal proceedings of the grand jury in procuring evidence upon which to base grounds for the indictment.” To sustain this motion, the appellant filed his own affidavit, to the effect that on two occasions he was brought before the grand jury who found the indictment, and examined in relation to the crime charged against him, and that he was not informed that the evidence he might give before the grand jury would be used against him, and that the indictment was found on the evidence thus given by him. Ujider our law but two grounds can be assigned for arrest of judgment : (1) TTo legal authority in the grand jury to inquire into the offense charged, by reason of its not being within the jurisdiction of the court-, (2) that the facts stated do not constitute a crime or misdemeanor. § 6967, Bal. Code. This crime was committed in Pierce county, and was within the jurisdiction of the court. An inspection of the indictment shows that the facts stated constituted the crime of robbery. If the affidavit of the appellant concerning his presence and testimony before the grand jury is true, he should have presented his objections to the indictment at the earliest opportunity, and before the trial. It is too late to raise this question after verdict. Bishop, New Criminal Procedure, § 887. Although such an objection does not fall strictly withm the language of § 6890, Bal. Code, prescribing the grounds of a motion to set aside an [555]*555indictment, it does appear from an inspection of the indictment that the name of the appellant is not indorsed thereon as a witness; and for this reason, if he had been before the grand jury as a witness, under the section last cited he could have moved to set aside the indictment, and possibly he could have done so on the further g’rounds that the indictment was not presented as prescribed by law. People v. Southwell, 46 Cal. 141.

Again, the presumption of law is that the grand jury discharged its duties in a lawful manner, and this presumption should not he overthrown by the unsupported affidavit of the accused. Besides, this affidavit is flatly contradicted by the affidavit of J. L. McMurray, deputy prosecuting attorney. Ho evidence whatever of anything that took place, or any statement of appellant before the grand jury, was introduced at the trial. The motion in arrest of judgment was therefore properly overruled.

The facts as disclosed by the testimony in this case are as follows: Between nine and ten o’clock p. m., or ten and eleven o’clock p. m., the evidence in this respect being indefinite, of July 3, 1899, George Hyde, the prosecuting witness, while traveling on foot between Lake View and Edison, in Pierce county, in this state, on his way to Tacoma, was passed by two men on bicycles. Just as they passed him, they threw their wheels down, came at the prosecuting witness with drawn revolvers, both being armed, and demanded his money. He refused to give up his money and answered he would fight for it. One of the men shot and missed him. One, that he positively identified as Hildebrand, shot, and hit him in the hip, the shot knocking him down. When he was down, Hildebrand’s companion came around and went through the witness’s hind pocket and tools the witness’s money, while Hildebrand held a revolver (called by the witness a “gun”) on his head, threatening to blow the witness’s brains out. [556]*556Afterwards, how long the testimony fails to disclose, but while the witness was in the hospital, Hildebrand and the appellant were brought before him for identification. On the trial the witness was ashed whether or not the appellant was one of the men who held him up, and he answered: “ Well, he has that general appearance, but I am not positive that he is the man.” But he was positive as to the other man. Hildebrand, on motion of the prosecuting attorney and by leave of the court, was brought into court and the prosecuting witness identified him as the man who shot him. On the same evening, July 3, 1899, Henry Mills Germaine, a witness called by the state, left Lake View twenty minutes after nine o’clock'on his bicycle, to go to the asylum, and about a mile from Lake View, at about nine-thirty o’clock p. m., on a road between Lake View and a refreshment stand kept by a man by the name of Shousey, he met the appellant and Hildebrand and they had two “guns” (revolvers) apiece; that they came right up in front of him, and they both had revolvers in their hands, — in each hand, — and when they came up the witness stopped. The two men were going towards Lake View, walking. The testimony shows that it is between nine and ten miles from Tacoma to Lake View, and from Skouséy’s to Tacoma about the same distance. John Henry Kelley, a witness for the state, testified that between twelve m. of July 3, and one o’clock a. m., July 4, 1899, he saw the appellant and Hildebrand in the Yellowstone Saloon in Tacoma; that the witness left this saloon five minutes after he saw the appellant and Hildebrand there, to go to his home, and on Hinth and I streets he again saw the appellant and Hildebrand, and each had a gun in his hand. On cross-examination the following questions were asked by the appellant’s attorney, and answered by the witness:

[557]*557“ Q. How long did it take you to walk from the Yellowstone Saloon up to I street ?

A. Three or'four minutes; probably five.

Q. That would be half past twelve or twelve-thirty-five or forty ?

A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did they say to you, Mr. Kelley, did you say ?
A. They told me to throw up my hands.
Q. And you did ?
A. I certainly did.
Q. How many guns did they have ?
A. They had one gun each, that is all I seen.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 P. 719, 22 Wash. 551, 1900 Wash. LEXIS 311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hyde-wash-1900.