State v. Tweed

224 P. 443, 63 Utah 176, 1924 Utah LEXIS 86
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 10, 1924
DocketNo. 4053
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 224 P. 443 (State v. Tweed) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah 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. Tweed, 224 P. 443, 63 Utah 176, 1924 Utah LEXIS 86 (Utah 1924).

Opinion

FRICK, J.

The defendant, Lawrence Tweed, was charged with a felony, to wit with having had carnal knowledge of the body of a female under the age of consent. He was duly arrested, taken before the judge of the city court of Provo, Utah, who, under the laws of this state acts as ex officio justice of the peace and is authorized to discharge all the duties of a magistrate in all criminal proceedings instituted in the name of the state. The defendant being charged with a felony, he was by virtue of article 1, § 13, of our Constitution, entitled to a preliminary hearing before being subject to trial in the district court of Utah county, in which county the offense is alleged to have been committed. A preliminary hearing was duly had upon the charge, and the defendant was by the magistrate aforesaid required to appear before the district court aforesaid for trial. An information in due form as required by our statute was duly filed in said district court, charging the defendant with the crime aforesaid, which, under our statute, constitutes a felony. When the defendant was arraigned, he, through his counsel, interposed [178]*178a demurrer to the information and a motion to quash the same. The demurrer was based upon the alleged ground that the legislative act under which the defendant was bound over by the magistrate aforesaid to the district court is invalid, and the motion to quash was predicated upon the contention that the defendant had not been given the preliminary hearing contemplated by our Constitution. The district court sustained both the demurrer and the motion to quash, and entered judgment dismissing the defendant. The state appeals.

The appeal is taken pursuant to Comp. Laws Utah 1917, § 9208, and its purpose is to determine the correctness of the rulings of the district court in sustaining the demurerr and the motion to quash. It was made to appear at the time the demurrer and the motion to quash were interposed that the defendant, at the time the alleged offense was committed, was under 18 years of age. Indeed, the state conceded that at that time he was only a little over 17 years of age.

Prior to the enactment of chapter 5 of Laws of Utah 1919, which was passed at the special session of the Legislature of the state of Utah of 1919, and to which we shall more particularly refer hereinafter, the juvenile courts of this state had exclusive jurisdiction of all offenders “who are under eighteen years of age.” Under the juvenile law, therefore, when it was made to appear that one charged with an offense which was not punishable by death, or life imprisonment was under the age of 18 years when the alleged offense was committed, the district courts were deprived of jurisdiction to try or to inflict punishment for the offense, and the matters of trial and punishment were placed under the sole jurisdiction of the juvenile courts'. At the special session of the Legislature of 1919, however, the Legislature amended the juvenile law, and in section 7, of that act, among other things, provided that if a juvenile offender is charged with a felony the “juvenile court shall act as a committing magistrate with the same jurisdiction as a justice of the peace sitting as a committing magistrate, and when it appears that a felony has been committed and that there is sufficient cause to believe [179]*179the juvenile defendant guilty, to commit him to the district court of the county where the offense is committed, there to be prosecuted upon information or indictment as provided by law.”

Under our Constitution (article 1, § 13), any one charged with a felony may be prosecuted either upon an indictment found by a grand jury, or upon an information filed by the prosecuting attorney. In case the prosecution is based upon an information filed by the prosecuting attorney the accused is, however, entitled to a preliminary hearing before a magistrate before the information is- lodged against him in the district court, and, if it be made to appear to the district court before a plea on the merits is entered in that court that the accused had not been given a preliminary hearing, and that he has not waived such a hearing, the information may be quashed on motion of the accused, and he cannot be legally tried in the district court until he has either been given the preliminary hearing provided for in the Constitution, or it be made to appear that he has waived such a hearing. In this- case the defendant was given the preliminary hearing. It is contended, however, by his counsel, that the city judge of Provo was without jurisdiction to act as a committing magistrate for the reason that the defendant was under the age of 18 years, and hence the juvenile court or judge thereof had exclusive jurisdiction in the premises. The contention is predicated upon the language we have quoted from section 7 of the special act of 1919, supfa.

It will be observed that it is there provided that, in case a juvenile is charged with a felony, then the juvenile court shall proceed to act as a magistrate, and shall require the accused to appear before the district court for trial as in all other cases of felony. The contention that the juvenile court or judge has exclusive jurisdiction to act as a magistrate in such case is, in our judgment, not tenable. A young man who is just under the age of 18 years may be charged with a felony, and may be taken before a magistrate in good faith believing him to be over the age of 18 years and hence not within the class of juvenile offenders. If such be the [180]*180case, why is the magistrate without jurisdiction merely because the young man has not attained the age of 18 years? If one is charged with a felony under the law of 1919 his age is no longer an obstacle to the jurisdiction of any magistrate or of the district courts of this state. One thus charged, therefore, is subject to trial and punishment in the ordinary way, regardless of his age. He is subject to trial in the district court regardless of his age, provided he has attained the age of discretion. Such was not the case under the old juvenile act, but under that act the moment it was made to appear that the alleged offense was committed by one who was then under the age of 18 years the juvenile court was vested with exclusive jurisdiction. Under the amendment, therefore, as before indicated, it is the nature or character of the offense which determines jurisdiction, and not the age of the accused. That such is the case is made apparent by the special act of 1919. It is there provided that when a juvenile is charged with a felony he may be “prosecuted upon information or indictment as provided by law.” In case a prosecution were predicated upon an indictment the juvenile court or judge thereof might have nothing whatever to do with the case, and that is likewise true in case the young man who is charged with a felony is taken before a magistrate for a preliminary hearing. Moreover, no prejudice whatever can result to the accused since the juvenile eourt or judge is powerless to do anything further than to hold one charged with a felony for trial in the district court, and that is precisely what any other magistrate having jurisdiction in felony cases may do. In our judgment the fact that the juvenile judge was vested with the powers of a magistrate in cases where juveniles are charged with the commission of felonies was for convenience merely to enable him to require the accused to appear before the tribunal for trial so as to avoid! sending him before some other magistrate for the required preliminary hearing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
224 P. 443, 63 Utah 176, 1924 Utah LEXIS 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tweed-utah-1924.