State v. McLaughlin

249 P. 612, 121 Kan. 693, 1926 Kan. LEXIS 231
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 9, 1926
DocketNo. 27,031
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 249 P. 612 (State v. McLaughlin) 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. McLaughlin, 249 P. 612, 121 Kan. 693, 1926 Kan. LEXIS 231 (kan 1926).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Dawson, J.;

The defendant was convicted of two offenses — being drunk and intoxicated on a public highway, and operating an auto[694]*694mobile on a public highway while in a drunken and intoxicated condition.

A jury was waived and counsel for the state and for the defendant submitted the cause to the trial court upon an agreed statement of facts, which in part reads:

“That at about 4:30 a. m. on the 9th day of August, 1925, Russell McLaughlin, the defendant in this case, was arrested by Officer P. H. Rouse, of Independence, and the sheriff of Montgomery county, on Railroad street between Ninth and Tenth streets in the city of Independence, Kansas. That immediately prior to his arrest he had been drinking intoxicating liquor and drove his automobile along Railroad street between Ninth and Tenth streets and ran into the curb or gutter and wrecked his car. That he continued to remain there in his wrecked car on Railroad street, which is a public thoroughfare, for about a half hour, when the officers arrived and defendant was arrested. At the time of his arrest he was intoxicated to such an extent that it was necessary for the officers to arouse him and assist him out of the car and into their car and assist him up to the city jail of Independence, Kansas.”

Defendant filed a motion requiring the state to elect whether it would stand on the count charging him with the offense of being drunk on a public highway or on the count charging defendant with the offense of operating an automobile upon a public highway while in a drunken and intoxicated condition. This record recited:

"The Court: The motion is to require the county attorney to elect upon which count he stands. The motion will be overruled.”
“[Counsel for Defendant] : Now at this time the defendant requests the court to make a finding on the first count before he finds on the second.
“The Court: The court will find the defendant guilty upon the first count, being intoxicated in a public place in violation of law.”
“[Counsel for Defendant] : Comes now the defendant, Russell McLaughlin, having been convicted under the first count and now moves the court to dismiss the second count of the information herein, and dismiss and discharge this defendant so far as the second count is concerned, because a conviction under the first count is a bar to a conviction under the second count, and that the defendant has been in former jeopardy in this case; that being drunk at the same time and place is an essential ingredient for other offenses charged.
“The Court : The motion will be overruled. The court finds the defendant, Russell McLaughlin, guilty on the second count, of driving a car immediately after he had been drinking intoxicating liquor, all in the manner and form charged in the second count of the information.”

Judgment on each count was entered and sentences imposed accordingly.

Defendant appeals, contending that his conviction and sentence [695]*695on both counts constitute a breach of his constitutional right not to be placed in jeopardy twice nor twice subjected to punishment for one and the same offense.

The statute defining the offense involved in the first count charged against defendant reads:

“If any person shall be drunk in any highway, street, or in any public place or building, or if any person shall be drunk in his own house, or any private building or place, disturbing his family or others, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding thirty days.” (R. S. 21-2128.)

The offense involved in the second count is thus defined:

“It shall be unlawful for any person under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any exhilarating- or stupefying drug to drive, operate or have charge of the power or guidance of any automobile, motorcycle or any motor vehicle propelled by other than muscular power, upon any public road, highway, street, avenue, driveway or alley within the state of Kansas. And that the taking or use of any intoxicating liquor or exhilarating or stupefying drug by the person driving, operating or in charge of the power and guidance of any automobile, motorcycle, or other vehicle or while operating such vehicle propelled by other than muscular power, within a reasonable time prior to taking charge or guidance of such vehicle shall be construed as prima facie evidence that such person is under the influence thereof.” (R. S. 21-2160.)

Defendant’s point is simply this: Being drunk on a public highway was an essential element of the offense of driving an automobile on a public highway while drunk, and that two distinct penal offenses cannot be carved out of that single and identical delinquency.

The authorities seem to favor defendant’s contention. A prosecution and conviction or acquittal for any part of a single offense bars further prosecution for any act comprising the whole or any part of defendant’s misconduct pertaining to that identical delinquency. Thus, in State v. Colgate, 31 Kan. 511, 3 Pac. 346, a defendant was prosecuted and acquitted of the charge of setting fire to and burning a grist mill, and afterwards prosecuted on the charge of setting fire to and burning the books of account, it being the same identical fire involved in the first prosecution. It was held that defendant’s acquittal .of the charge of setting fire to and burning the mill was a good defense to the charge of setting fire to and burning the books of account pertaining to the business of the mill. In the [696]*696court’s opinion Mr. Justice Valentine reviewed many cases from other jurisdictions, and said:

“And upon general principles a single offense cannot be split into separate parts, and the supposed offender be prosecuted for each of such separate parts, although each part may of itself constitute a separate offense. If the offender be prosecuted for one part, that ends the prosecution for that offense, provided, such part of itself constitutes an offense for which a conviction can be had. And generally we would think that the commission of a single wrongful act can furnish the subject matter or the foundation of only’one criminal prosecution.” (p. 515.)

In State v. Chinault, 55 Kan. 326, 40 Pac. 662, an information was filed in the district court of Wyandotte county charging defendant with the offense of assault with intent to kill. While that case was pending and undetermined, the defendant was prosecuted and convicted in the Wyandotte court of common pleas of the offense of assault with intent to rob. In the latter case the defendant had filed a plea in abatement, setting up the undisputed fact that the identical delinquency was the basis of the action pending against him in the district court. This court reversed the judgment of conviction. In the opinion it was said:

“Both informations charge offenses under the same section of the statutes, viz.: Section 38 of the act regulating crimes and punishments. Both informations refer to the same acts, the only difference being that a different criminal purpose is attributed to the defendant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
249 P. 612, 121 Kan. 693, 1926 Kan. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mclaughlin-kan-1926.