State v. Seals

65 So. 756, 135 La. 602, 1914 La. LEXIS 1813
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 8, 1914
DocketNo. 20562
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 65 So. 756 (State v. Seals) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Seals, 65 So. 756, 135 La. 602, 1914 La. LEXIS 1813 (La. 1914).

Opinion

LAND, J.

The defendant was indicted for murder, found guilty without capital punishment, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penitentiary.

Defendant has appealed, and relies for reversal on several bills of exception.

Defendant moved to quash the indictment on the ground that the grand jury returning the same were selected and drawn by the jury commission solely from the supplemental list, and not from the venire of 300 names, and that the said commission did not strike from the general venire list the names of all those who had served and were disqualified from jury service. The only evidence offered was the procSs verbal of the selection of the venire, and of the grand jurors. This proeSs verbal seemed to the trial judge, and seems to us, to be regular. From the bare circumstance that the names of the grand jurors selected appear on the supplemental list, counsel for defendant infer that they were drawn from that list, and not from the general venire. The procSs verbal shows that the general venire list was completed before the grand jurors were selected, and the commission surely had the right to select, as they pleased, from the whole list.

Even if the selection had been made from the supplemental list, no fraud or actual injury to the accused has been shown. State v. Johnson, 116 La. 863, 41 South. 117.

Defendant’s motion in arrest of judgment is based on the contention, that, the plea of not guilty having been withdrawn, the case was subsequently tried without issue joined.

The minute entries show that the accused was duly arraigned and pleaded “not guilty,” and his case was-fixed for trial for March 4, 1914, and that “said plea was made with the right to withdraw same and file a motion to quash.” On March 4, 1914, a motion to quash was filed, tried, and overruled, and on the same day the case was taken up for trial, and tried before the jury, without objection on the part of the accused, and the accused was found guilty without capital punishment.

[1] The record shows that the reserved right to withdraw the plea of not guilty was [606]*606never exercised. The contention that the mere filing of the motion to quash operated as a withdrawal of the plea of not guilty is without merit. See State v. Gregg, 123 La. 610, 49 South. 211.

In the recent case of Garland v. State of Washington, 232 U. S. 642, 34 Sup. Ct. 456, 58 L. Ed. 772, the Supreme Court of the United States, reversing Crain v. United States, 162 U. S. 625, 16 Sup. Ct. 952, 40 L. Ed. 1097, applied the doctrine of waiver to the case of a second information, on which the accused went to trial, without objection that issue had not been joined therein by plea of not guilty. The court said:

“The object of arraignment, being to inform the accused of the charge against him and obtain an answer from him, was fully subserved in this case, for the accused had taken objections to the second information, and was put to trial before a jury upon that information in all respects as though he had entered a * * * plea of not guilty.”

The court unanimously approved the views expressed in the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Peckham in the Crain Case, to the effect that a waiver ought to be conclusively implied where the parties had proceeded as if defendant had been duly arraigned, and a formal plea of not guilty had interposed, and the accused made no objection until after verdict.

The Garland Case indicates that the day for the reversal of verdicts on mere technicalities and informalities in criminal proceedings has passed, and that our highest court has commenced applying the rule of reason to criminal trials.

In the case at bar there was an arraignment and plea, which was never withdrawn, and on which the defendant went to trial without objection. If the defendant ever had the right to withdraw the plea, he never exercised the privilege.

[2, 3] The minutes recite that the jiiry retired to deliberate—

“at 15 minutes to 10, and, the accused with counsel being present in court, the court called in the jury and charged them, unless they agreed upon a verdict by 15 minutes after 10, that he would adjourn court until to-morrow morning at 10 o’clock. To which charge' counsel for accused objected and reserved a bill.”
“The said jury came into court, and; the accused with counsel being present in court, rendered the following verdict: ‘Guilty, without capital punishment.’ ”

' In the bill of exception the trial judge gave the following version of the incident:

“At 9:45, the court sent for the jury and asked_ them what prospect there was of their reaching a verdict that night. The foreman informed the court that it looked as if they would not be able to agree.
“The court said: ‘Gentlemen you have heard all the evidence in this case, and you should reach a verdict if possible. Xou should not put the parish to the expense of another trial if it is possible for you to agree.’
“Court will adjourn for to-day at 15 minutes after 10. If before that time you have reached a verdict, make it known to the sheriff.
“After about 10 minutes the jury returned into court and rendered a verdict of ‘Guilty without capital punishment.’ ”

We do not think that the remarks of the court amounted to coercion. It was the duty of the jury to agree if possible, and by so doing save, unnecessary public expense. See State v. Dudoussat, 47 La. Ann. 998, 999, 17 South. 685. At the common law, which we have adopted in criminal matters, jurors were starved ahd carted about to compel them to agree on a verdict. This drastic practice has become obsolete, and the modern doctrine is that jurors should not be forced, by physical means of suffering, to surrender their judgment. State v. Green, 7 La. Ann. 520. But the question of the discharge of a hung jury is one within the discretion of the court, Id. In State v. Fuselier, 51 La. Ann. 1317, 1504, 26 South. 264, 408, the court cited Proffatt on Jury Trial, § 482, quoting from the latter as follows:

“It is well settled that the court has in itself to decide when to discharge the jury. The exercise of such discretion is not ordinarily subject to review.”

[608]*608The court further said:

“It would be different if pressure had been brought to ‘produce’ an agreement. This was not the case. We are not informed that they did not have ‘meat, drink, and light,’ and the usual attention due to jurors. The restraint to which jurors are subject is in the interest of law and order.”

There was nothing coercive in the language of the trial judge on the occasion in question.

[4] In regard to the exception to the charge of the court, both the district attorney and the trial judge, certify that no evidence was made part of th'e bill when it was reserved, but they do not deny that the accused offered evidence tending to prove self-defense as stated in the bill.

The charge reads as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
65 So. 756, 135 La. 602, 1914 La. LEXIS 1813, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-seals-la-1914.