State v. Tully

78 P. 760, 31 Mont. 365, 1904 Mont. LEXIS 169
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 1, 1904
DocketNo. 2,054
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 78 P. 760 (State v. Tully) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana 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. Tully, 78 P. 760, 31 Mont. 365, 1904 Mont. LEXIS 169 (Mo. 1904).

Opinions

MR. COMMISSIONER POORMAN

prepared the following’ opinion for the court:

Defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree. A motion in arrest of judgment was interposed and overruled. Defendant then moved for a new trial. This motion was also [369]*369overruled. The appeal is from the judgment, and from the order overruling the motion for a new trial.

1. The information states generally that the crime was committed in Missoula county, but contains no other allegations of venue. The defendant contends that inasmuch as the court takes judicial notice of the fact that Fort Missoula military reservation is situated within Missoula county (Section 3150, Code of Civil Procedure), and that the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction of the trial of this offense if committed thereon (Section 40 et seq., Political Code; Section 1, Art. II, Constitution of Montana), the information should contain some averment that the crime, though committed within the county, was not committed on this reservation. This question as to the sufficiency of the information, and the further claim of defendant that the court erred in overruling his motion in arrest of judgment, and the further claim that the court erred in receiving evidence on the hearing of the motion in arrest of judgment, will be considered together.

(a) District courts are courts of general jurisdiction. The counties constituting each district are designated by legislative enactment. In this enactment no exception is made of reservations. The form-of information given in Section 1833 of the Penal Code contains no allegation relating to venue, except the general statement that the offense was committed within tic county. Section 1841, Penal Code, specifies what must be alleged in an information. That relating to venue is contained in Subdivision 4, which reads: “That the offense was committed at some place within the jurisdiction of the court, except where the act, though done without the local jurisdiction of the county, is triable therein.” Criminal actions must be tried in the county where the offense was committed (Section 16, Art. Ill, Constitution of Montana) ; and when “an offense is committed in part in one county and in part in another,” or “on the boundary of two or more counties,” the jurisdiction is in either county. (Sections 1564, 1565, Penal Code.) The exception named in Subdivision 4 of Section 1841, supra, un[370]*370doubtedly refers to offenses committed in the manner named in said Sections 1564 and 1565.

It is true, the court may take judicial notice that this military reservation is situated within Missoula county, and that the state court has no jurisdiction of this offense, if committed thereon; yet the jurisdiction of the federal courts being exceptional, and that of state courts general, it is not necessary, in an information, to negative the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Where a statute states in detail what must be alleged with reference to venue, such allegations need not be broader than the statute.

Practically this same question was before the Supreme Court of California in People v. Collins, 105 Cal. 504, 39 Pac. 16, where the court, said: “The jurisdiction of the state being general, and that of the United States exceptional, it is not necessary to negative, in an indictment or information in the state courts, the jurisdiction of the federal courts. It is like an exception in an act creating or defining a public offense, in which ease it is held that, if the exception is not necessary to the description of the offense, it nefed not be alleged or negatived, but is matter of defense simply.”

In Territory v. Burns, 6 Mont. 72, 9 Pac. 432, this court said: “When an exception is stated in the statute, it is not necessary to negative such exception, unless it is a constituent part of the definition of the offense.”

This same question relative to the error complained of was passed upon in State v. Spotted Hawk, 22 Mont. 33, 55 Pac. 1026, where the court said: “The information is in conformity with the statute. The district court has general jurisdiction of all offenses committed within the limits of the county where it sits. The allegation quoted supra is surplusage. If the defendant should be charged with a crime committed out of the court’s jurisdiction, this is a matter to be taken advantage of at the trial. The authorities cited by counsel in the brief have reference to courts of limited jurisdiction, and have no application.” We find no reason for disturbing the decision in the Spotted [371]*371Hawk Case, but hold this information sufficient as to its allegations respecting the venue of this offense.

(b) A motion in arrest of judgment must be founded on some defect in the information (Section 2200, Penal Code) mentioned in Section 1922 of the Penal Code. One of the defects mentioned in this latter section is where it appears that the court has no jurisdiction of the offense charged therein. The only error complained of here is lack of jurisdiction, and in this the contention of defendant is not sustained. Whether the failure to demur was a waiver, within the meaning of the decision in State v. Mahoney, 24 Mont. 281, 61 Pac. 647, is immaterial. The motion was properly overruled.

(c) At the hearing on the motion in arrest of judgment the attention of the court was called to certain matters relating to the situs of Port Missoula military reservation, to which reference had not been made at the trial of the case, and these matters were inserted in the record. Extrinsic evidence cannot be received at the hearing on a motion in arrest of judgment. (People v. Johnson, 71 Cal. 384, 12 Pac. 261; Commonwealth v. Brown, 150 Mass. 334, 23 N. E. 98; King v. State, 91 Tenn. 617, 20 S. W. 169; State v. Creight, 2 Am. Dec. 656.)

It is claimed by respondent that the matters to which the attention of the court was directed were only such as could be noticed judicially. However this may be, the information not being open to any objection made, and none of these matters being used or inserted in the record until after verdict, the defendant was not in any manner prejudiced; and the questions raised on the motion have here been examined and considered irrespective of any extrinsic matter.

2. The question of jurisdiction is again urged on the motion-for a new trial, the defendant maintaining that the evidence shows that the offense was committed on the Port Missoula military reservation. The evidence shows that both the defendant and the deceased were soldiers stationed at Port Missoula, and that the homicide was committed on October 18, 1903, on Sec. 36, Twp. 13 N., R. 20 W., on the sentry beat just back of the [372]*372commissary building; that- several other buildings then used by the military authorities as a part of the post of Fort Missoula were situated on this section; and that, so far as military jurisdiction goes, the commanding officer of the post was «supreme over the tract of land thus occupied. Military jurisdiction, however, does not in time of peace extend to the trial of persons accused of murder, although both the defendant and the deceased were, at the time the homicide was committed, soldiers in the United States army, and the offense was committed on a military reservation. This question was considered at some length in United States v. Clark, (C. C.) 31 Fed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
78 P. 760, 31 Mont. 365, 1904 Mont. LEXIS 169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tully-mont-1904.