Ware v. State

252 S.W. 934, 159 Ark. 540, 1923 Ark. LEXIS 98
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 25, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 252 S.W. 934 (Ware v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ware v. State, 252 S.W. 934, 159 Ark. 540, 1923 Ark. LEXIS 98 (Ark. 1923).

Opinions

Wood, J.

On May 14,1923, the petitioners filed with the clerk of this court a transcript of the record of the proceedings had in their cases in the Lee Circuit Court, and prayed an appeal from the order of that court overruling the motion to discharge them. Along with this record they filed a petition to this court in which they alleged that they were indicted for murder in the first degree in the Phillips Circuit Court at the October, 1919, term; that they were twice tried and convicted in that court, and, on appeal to this court, the judgments were reversed, and the causes remanded for a new trial; that at the May, 1920, term of the Phillips Circuit Court a change of venue was granted them and their cases were transferred to the Lee Circuit Court; that at the October, 1921, term of the Lee Circuit Court the cases were continued by consent; that at the April, 1922, term of that court the petitioners filed a motion to have their cases set for trial on a day of that term; that the cases were not tried .at that term, but were continued without the consent of the appellants, who were present and demanded a trial ; that at -the October, 1922, term of that court the appellants again filed a motion in open court asking that their cases be set for trial' on a certain day; that the cases were not tried at that time, but were continued, in spite of the fact that the appellants were present demanding a trial.

Appellants further alleged that at the April, 1923, term they filed in open court a motion for a discharge on the ground that they had not been brought to trial before the end of the second term of the court having jurisdiction to try their cases; that the court, upon hearing the motion, found that there had been time to try the causes at the April and October, 1922, terms; that the petitioners had not consented to a continuance of their causes, but the court overruled the motion to discharge. The petitioners moved for a new trial, which was overruled, and they prayed an appeal to this court, which prayer was denied.

The petitioners further alleged that they had been confined in jail in Phillips and Lee counties since the finding of the indictments, and that they are now confined in the Lee County jail. They alleged that, by reason of the delay on the part of the State, they have not been brought to trial before the end of the second term of the court having jurisdiction of the causes, and that, under the Constitution and statutes of this 'State, they are entitled to be discharged from the offenses for which they are indicted. They alleged that the Lee Circuit Court, at its next October term, will proceed to try them, unless prevented by this court, which trials will cause these peti-f tioners to spend large sums of money in defense, which! they are unable to bear; that the Lee Circuit Court is-’ without jurisdiction to try them. Wherefore, they pray that an appeal be granted by this court from the final order of the Lee Circuit Court overruling their motion to discharge, and that they be discharged from said indictments and from custody.

There is an alternative prayer in their petition for a writ of certiorari directed to the clerk of the Lee Circuit Court, commanding him to certify the transcript of the record of the proceedings in the Lee Circuit Court on their petition for discharge, and the further alternative prayer for a writ of prohibition directed to the judge, of the Lee Circuit Court and the prosecuting attorney of that circuit, prohibiting him from proceeding to try the petitioners. The record filed along with the petition shows a motion for discharge in the Lee Circuit Court, in which the facts, substantially as alleged in the petition here, are set up, and a response to that motion, in which the prosecuting attorney -admits that the defendants were twice tried and convicted, as set up in their motion, and that the causes are now awaiting trial. He denies that the causes were continued, as therein alleged, without the consent of the defendants, but alleged that the defendants did not move to have their canses set down for trial at the October, 1922, term of the Lee Circuit Court until it was too late to try these causes during the regular term of that court, and, upon the application of the defendants, the regular October, 1922, term of that court was adjourned until December 11, 1922, for the express purpose of trying these causes; that on the day set for the adjourned term of the Lee Circuit Court the regular term of the Phillips Circuit Court was in session, and the adjourned term of the Lee Circuit Court lapsed for that reason.

The prosecuting attorney alleges that the continuances complained of have been brought about by the consent and at the solicitation of the defendants. The response to the motion to discharge further set up that the State could not get ready to try the causes at that term of the court, for the reason that the witnesses who testified for the State in the two preceding trials, and on whom the State relied for conviction of the defendants, are now confined in the Arkansas State Penitentiary. The prosecuting attorney alleged that he had been informed that these witnesses have recently repudiated their former testimony, and that they will not, if the causes are now tried, testify to the same state of facts testified to by them in the two former trials. He further alleged that, since discovering the fact of repudiation of these witnesses of their former testimony, the State had not had time to ascertain the whereabouts of other witnesses who knew and would testify to substantially the same state of facts. He further alleged “that by reason of the fact that the homicide charged against the defendants was committed three and a half years ago, witnesses whom the State desires to have subpoenaed have become scattered over the State of Arkansas and in many other States, and that the State has not had sufficient time, by reason of said facts, to have the necessary witnesses brought to this court; that it will be impossible, or practically so, to locate the present whereabouts of these witnesses, who are now living in various communities over the State, and to have them served with process sooner than the next regular fall term of this court; that the testimony of these witnesses is material, and that the State cannot be ready for trial at the present term of this court.”

The record shows that, on the hearing of the motion, the defendants (petitioners) called as a witness Ed Ware, one of the defendants, who testified, in substance, that he was one of the defendants indicted for murder in the first degree in the Phillips Circuit Court; that he had never consented to the continuance of his case. It is admitted by the State that the other defendants would testify the same.

The clerk of the Lee Circuit Court testified, in substance, that the April, 1922, term of the Lee Circuit Court was in session eleven judicial days out of a total of three weeks, or eighteen judicial days for that term. These eases were not set for trial at that term. On the eighth day of the term a motion was filed by the defendants to have the causes set down for trial. This motion was filed April 6, 1922. The record does not show any action taken on the motion. The October term, 1922, was in session ten judicial days when it adjourned until December 11,1922. At that term the defendants filed a motion to set their cases down for trial. The cases were set for the second Friday. The second Friday the court was engaged in trying another case, State v. Cothran, which was not completed until the next day, Saturday.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. A.G.
2011 Ark. 244 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2011)
Alexander v. State
598 S.W.2d 395 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1980)
Reeves v. State
548 S.W.2d 822 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1977)
McDonald v. State
484 S.W.2d 345 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1972)
Holland v. State
480 S.W.2d 597 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1972)
Randall v. State
458 S.W.2d 743 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1970)
Floyd v. Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy
451 S.W.2d 874 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1970)
Turner v. State
452 S.W.2d 317 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1970)
Fields v. State
441 S.W.2d 803 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1969)
Beckwith v. State
379 S.W.2d 19 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1964)
Jones v. State
320 S.W.2d 645 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1959)
Pellegrini v. Wolfe
283 S.W.2d 162 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1955)
Breedlove v. State
280 S.W.2d 224 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1955)
Williams v. State
196 S.W.2d 751 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1946)
Bishop v. State
193 S.W.2d 489 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1946)
Lee v. State
47 S.W.2d 11 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1932)
Fulton v. State
12 S.W.2d 777 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1929)
Tucker v. State
278 S.W. 963 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1926)
Martin v. State
257 S.W. 752 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
252 S.W. 934, 159 Ark. 540, 1923 Ark. LEXIS 98, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ware-v-state-ark-1923.