State v. Wilson

9 P.2d 497, 51 Idaho 659, 1932 Ida. LEXIS 11
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 21, 1932
DocketNo. 5751.
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 9 P.2d 497 (State v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho 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. Wilson, 9 P.2d 497, 51 Idaho 659, 1932 Ida. LEXIS 11 (Idaho 1932).

Opinion

*662 BUDGE, J.

Appellant and three others were jointly tried and convicted of the offense of injuring a public jail, as defined by C. S., sec. 8562. From the judgment of conviction and from an order denying his motion for new trial appellant aíone appeals.

The record discloses that all of the defendants and appellant were represented upon arraignment and throughout the trial by counsel appointed by the court. In proceedings connected with the motion for new trial and this appeal appellant is represented by other counsel.

The evidence establishes conclusively that appellant’s three co-defendants, on the night of March 13, 1931 and early morning of March 14, 1931, by means of hacksaws, cut a hole in the steel floor of a tank in the Bannock county jail, in which they were confined, crawled through the hole and the space between the floor of the tank and the floor of the jail, and also by the use of hacksaws cut through two iron bars in a window of the jail, through which they unsuccessfully prepared to escape, being there apprehended by two deputy sheriffs. The following evidence tends to connect appellant with the crime charged:

A police officer, chief of detectives and a deputy sheriff testified to a conversation had with appellant on March 24, 1931, at the office of the chief of detectives after appellant’s arrest on that day, each testifying substantially as follows: That appellant was advised that he did not have to make a statement unless he wanted to; that .he talked freely; that he said he had visited a woman at the county jail but repeatedly stated that his co-defendant Cornish was the only man that he knew and visited there and that he had talked with him about purchasing his (Cornish’s) car; that appellant stated that he purchased hacksaws at Manning *663 & Sorgatz’s, a hardware store, and acid at Whittlesley’s drug-store, both in Pocatello, and delivered the hacksaws and acid to the county jail; that he also stated that the party he delivered the hacksaws and acid to at the county jail offered to pay him for doing so but he only took what the acid and hacksaws actually cost; that he would rather not name the party he gave these articles to as he “didn’t want to be classed as a rat,” although one witness testified positively that appellant said he delivered the saws to Cornish; and that appellant said he signed the register at Whittlesley’s drug-store when he purchased the acid.

A deputy sheriff testified that in a conversation with appellant’s co-defendant Lucero, in the sheriff’s office on March 14, 1931, Lucero stated that a bottle of acid was sent to Cornish but the bottle was dropped and broken. Another deputy sheriff testified that in a conversation with appellant’s co-defendant Cornish in the sheriff’s office on March 14, 1931, Cornish “contended from the start that he was to blame for the whole thing.”

H. B. Whittlesley, proprietor of Whittlesley’s drug-store, testified that he knew appellant; that appellant was in his drug-store almost every day and on March 8 or 9, 1931, purchased hydrochloric acid; that four days prior thereto appellant asked the witness what kind of acid would eat soft iron off hard steel; that the witness informed him that the acid would eat both and he better use an oxyacetylene torch but appellant said that could not be done.

Walter J. Ford, pharmacist employed at Whittlesley’s drug-store, testified that he knew appellant and that on March 8, 1931, appellant was in said drug-store and purchased twelve ounces of hydrochloric acid and that he saw appellant sign the poison register, introduced in evidence, after making such purchase “George Rogers, 654 North Ninth,” and that the witness initialed such signature.

There is also evidence to the effect that at least one hacksaw was found in the window of the jail at the time appellant’s co-defendants were apprehended. The sheriff and a deputy testified that about the middle of February, 1931, *664 a thorough search of the jail was made and two hacksaw blades were found and removed.

In support of his motion for new trial appellant filed an affidavit in which he avers: That two of his co-defendants were shackled together in the presence of the jury during the trial; that he desired to testify but his counsel would not permit him to do so, and his co-defendant Cornish was likewise prevented from testifying in behalf of appellant; that had they been permitted to testify, appellant would have denied any connection with the offense and would have been corroborated in that respect by Cornish; that after the conversation at the police station appellant was taken to the prosecuting attorney’s office where he was questioned at great length; that he was assured by the chief of detectives that “if he would confess and plead guilty that he .could clear himself,” saying that appellant “had better talk and clear himself.” A counter-affidavit was filed by said chief of detectives denying the statements attributed to him in appellant’s affidavit, but averring that before any questions were asked he advised appellant of his constitutional rights; that he was under arrest; that he did not have to talk if he did not want to; that anything he might say could. be used against him; and that thereafter appellant told the-story related by the witnesses during the trial.

Appellant assigns as error the action of the trial court in overruling his motion for new trial which was based upon the following grounds, among others:

1. That appellant was prevented from having a fair and impartial trial for the reason that he was not permitted by his counsel to testify in his own behalf and was not permitted by his counsel to call as his witness his co-defendant, Cornish, by whom it could have been established that appellant had nothing to do with the alleged offense.

2. That if appellant had been permitted to testify he could have shown that the alleged confession was improperly obtained and not freely given.

3. That it was error to try' appellant while two of' his co-defendants were handcuffed or shackled together in the. *665 presence of the jury, there being no necessity for such handcuffing or shackling.

4. It was erroneous to try appellant upon an information alleging that he had an alias.

The grounds upon which a court may grant a new trial are statutory and are enumerated in C. S., sec. 9017, which reads in part as follows:

“When a verdict has been rendered against the defendant the court may, upon his application, grant a new trial in the following cases only: .... ”

The grounds specified in said section are exclusive and cannot be extended by the courts by rule. (State v. Davis, 6 Ida. 159, 53 Pac. 678; People v. Amer, 151 Cal. 303, 90 Pac. 698, and cases cited therein; 16 C. J. 1121; 8 Cal. Jur., p. 414, sec. 442.) The alleged grounds specified above do not fall within those enumerated in C. S., sec. 9017, supra, and the trial court was without authority to grant a new trial upon such grounds.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
9 P.2d 497, 51 Idaho 659, 1932 Ida. LEXIS 11, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wilson-idaho-1932.