State v. Little River Drainage District

490 S.W.2d 675, 1973 Mo. App. LEXIS 1497
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 9, 1973
DocketNos. 34704, 34705
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 490 S.W.2d 675 (State v. Little River Drainage District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Little River Drainage District, 490 S.W.2d 675, 1973 Mo. App. LEXIS 1497 (Mo. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinions

KELLY, Judge.

This appeal is from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, sustaining defendant-respondent’s motion to quash or in the alternative to dismiss two informations charging it with the offense of placing a deleterious substance in the waters of the Little River Drainage “ditch” in sufficient quantities to injure, stupefy and kill fish inhabiting such waters in violation of Section 252.210 V. A.M.S. Both misdemeanors allegedly occurred on or about May 24th, 1971. On appeal the two causes were consolidated because they present the same issues for review. The defendant, as the Little River Drainage District shall hereinafter be denominated, has filed a motion in this court to dismiss the appeal contending that appeal is not available to the State, as the plaintiff-appellant hereinafter shall be called, and the motion was ordered taken with the case. We shall consider that motion of the defendant at this time.

Defendant takes the position that the State’s right of appeal in a criminal case is limited to those instances authorized by Rule 28.04 V.A.M.R., and is not permitted from a judgment dismissing the cause on the merits. The State, on the other hand, does not quarrel with defendant’s basic premise, but takes the position that the judgment of the trial court in this case is not a dismissal of the cause on its merits but is a dismissal on the grounds that the information was insufficient and therefore an appeal from such order and judgment is available to it by Rule 28.04(a) V.A.M.R.

The State may appeal in criminal cases in those instances enumerated in Section 547.210 V.A.M.S., and in no others. Section 547.200 V.A.M.S. There are two instances when the State may appeal in a criminal case: 1. When any indictment or information is adjudged insufficient upon demurrer or exception; or 2. where judgment therein is arrested or set aside. Section 547.210 V.A.M.S. The Supreme Court in adopting its Rules of Criminal Procedure incorporated these two statutes into a single Ride—Rule 28.04 V.A.M.R. We are here concerned only with whether or not the first grounds authorizing the State to take an appeal in criminal cases is applicable here. We hold it is not.

The defendant filed in the trial court a “motion to quash or in the alternative to dismiss.” The State points out that the motion to quash was abolished by Rule 25.05 V.A.M.R. and all such motions are treated as a motion to dismiss. It has been so held in State v. Crouch, Mo., 353 S.W.2d 597, and we shall treat it as such here. Defendant’s motion to dismiss was directed to whether or not the statute upon which the charges were drawn, to-wit Section 252.210 V.A.M.S., applies to it because it contends in its motion that since it is a political subdivision of the State of Missouri created for the purpose of performing prescribed governmental functions it is 1) legally incapable of committing a crime under the laws of the State of Missouri, 2) immune to criminal liability, 3) not liable criminally for any criminal acts of its agents or employees, and 4) not included within those enumerated legal entities subject to the Fish & Game Code of the State of Missouri. It is this motion that the trial court sustained, dismissing the cause and taxing the costs against the plaintiff —the State.

The term “insufficiency of information” as used in Section 547.210 V.A.M. S. and Rule 28.04 V.A.M.R. has been construed by the courts of this State,' and a distinction has been made between the dismissal of an indictment or information for “insufficiency of accusation” and dismissal on other grounds not appearing within the four corners of the indictment or information itself.

In State v. Ulmer, Mo., 351 S.W.2d 7, the court stated that the term “insufficiency of information” as used in the statute and Rule refers to “insufficiency of accusation.” 351 S.W.2d 10. In Ulmer the in-formations were quashed because the trial [677]*677court found that they were untimely filed and the defendants were not afforded a preliminary hearing. There was no attack on the informations on the ground they failed to state a cause of action — or the “sufficiency of the accusation” — and the appeals were dismissed because they were held not to fall within the specified grounds for the State to perfect an appeal.

In State v. Perou, Mo., 428 S.W.2d 561, cited by the defendant, indictments charging the defendants with corruption in office were challenged by motions to dismiss on the grounds that they did not charge the defendants with any offense and the three year statute of limitations applicable to the offense charged had run. The motions were sustained without the court stating the grounds on which it based its ruling. The Supreme Court stated that it must be assumed that both grounds were considered, and that the effect of the dismissal by reason of the bar of the three year statute of limitations rendered the trial court’s determination non-appealable. The bar of the statute of limitations did not go to the “sufficiency of the indictment.” 428 S.W.2d 562-563.

The State relies on State v. Terrell, Mo., 303 S.W.2d 26, as authority for its right to appeal. In Terrell the defendant was charged with a violation of the Wildlife Code and filed a motion to quash on the grounds that the section of the Wildlife Code under which he was charged was unconstitutional and the information failed to state an offense. The motion was sustained without the court specifying the grounds for its ruling and the Supreme Court there held that the State did have a right of appeal. The court, p. 27, said: “The court’s reason for quashing the information is not made to appear, the reasons assigned in the motion were that it failed to state an offense and that the particular section of the Wildlife Code is unconstitutional. But whatever the reason, the court ‘upon motion * * * adjudged’ the information ‘insufficient’ and the state was entitled to and has properly perfected its appeal.” For reasons hereinafter more fully stated we hold that Terrell is not controlling here.

A careful reading of the motion before the trial court demonstrates that nowhere does the defendant attack the “sufficiency of the accusation.” Its attack is directed to the applicability of the statute on the grounds it subjects a governmental agency to a conviction under the provisions of Section 252.210 V.A.M.S. This motion is directed to a matter of law, not of fact, and is not based upon the pleadings but on matters de hors the information itself.

In State v. Bollinger, 69 Mo. 577, a prosecution for murder in the first degree, the defendant, after entering a plea of guilty to a charge of murder in the second degree was brought in for sentencing and the court inquired whether he knew of any legal cause why judgment should not be pronounced against him according to law. The defendant replied that at the time of the alleged commission of the crime charged in the indictment he was a slave, that the deceased was also at this time a slave, and for that reason he was not amenable to the laws for the punishment of free white persons. The court imposed sentence on his plea and ordered him confined to the penitentiary for a period of ten years.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Coor
740 S.W.2d 350 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1987)
State v. Pennington
687 S.W.2d 240 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1985)
State v. Evans
679 S.W.2d 434 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1984)
State v. Holzschuh
670 S.W.2d 184 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1984)
State v. Jewell
628 S.W.2d 946 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
490 S.W.2d 675, 1973 Mo. App. LEXIS 1497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-little-river-drainage-district-moctapp-1973.