White v. State

1923 OK CR 77, 214 P. 202, 23 Okla. Crim. 198, 1923 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 179
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 14, 1923
DocketNo. A-3909.
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 1923 OK CR 77 (White v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White v. State, 1923 OK CR 77, 214 P. 202, 23 Okla. Crim. 198, 1923 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 179 (Okla. Ct. App. 1923).

Opinion

BESSEY, J.

Isadore White, plaintiff in error, here referred to as the defendant, was in the district court of Oklahoma county, on July 10, 1920, convicted. of the crime of fraudulently receiving stolen property. His punishment was *200 by a verdict of the jury fixed at confinement in the county jail for a period of six months and to pay a fine of $250. From the judgment on this verdict he appeals.

There were a number of unusual proceedings connected with the trial of this case, portions of which were had before three different judges. In the preliminary information the defendant was charged with knowingly and fraudulently receiving stolen property, without in any way describing the property received or stolen. A preliminary trial was had before an examining magistrate and the defendant held for further proceedings in the district court. In due course a like information, containing no description of the property whatever, was filed in the: district court, the sufficiency of which was challenged by a demurrer stating: (1) That the information did not conform to the requirements of the Code or Criminal Procedure; (2) that the information did not state facts constituting a public offense; and (3) that more than one offense was attempted to be stated in the information. The demurrer was by the court overruled and an exception allowed the defendant.

The cause first came on for trial in, district court on the original information on April 15, 1920. A jury was called and qualified and a witness called, sworn, and took the witness stand to give his testimony for the state (Record, p. 24). The defendant then objected to the introduction of testimony for reasons not affirmatively appearing of record, but presumably for the same reasons urged in the demurrer, i. e. because no property whatever was described in the original information. The court sustained this objection. The county attorney then asked and was given leave to amend the information. Accordingly, the information was amended by incorporating in it a detailed description of. the property alleged to have *201 been stolen and feloniously received. The defendant then asked and was given 24 hours in which to plead to the amended information. The jury theretofore impaneled was without any objection discharged from further consideration of the cause. On April 19th the defendant filed a plea in bar, claiming former jeopardy in the proceedings had on the original information, which motion or plea was by the court overruled and the cause reset for trial on May 26, 1920. On May 28th a trial was had on the issues raised by the amended information, resulting in a disagreement of the jury on May 31st. Subsequently, the cause was again called for trial on July 8,1920. On this day a third jury was impaneled and qualified. ' A witness was called and sworn on behalf of the state. After the county attorney had propounded a question to the witness, the defendant objected to the introduction of any evidence for the following reasons:

First. That the amended information does not state facts sufficient to constitute a publie offense or to charge the offense of knowingly receiving and buying stolen property or knowingly receiving or buying stolen property.

Second. That this court is without jurisdiction to try and determine the issues in this case for the reason that there is no legal and valid information pending against this defendant.

Third. Because the said amended information is invalid and illegal in that it was an amendment permitted by the court to an information that was invalid and defective, and was so permitted over the objection and exception of the defendant.

Fourth. For the reason that said defendant desires to offer proof in support cf the allegations of this objection *202 as to the defective and invalid and void amended information herein.

Fifth. As a part of this objection the defendant offers his plea and motion filed on April 19, Í920, claiming' former jeopardy.

Is an information charging the receiving of stolen property, in which no description whatever appears of the property said to have been stolen and received, defective to such an extent that it would not support a conviction after trial? W here the information states the date, the place, and the persons from whom the stolen property was received, but fails to describe the property, the information is not void in the sense that it may not be amended in such a way as to specifically describe the property. • lluough has been stated to apprise the accused of the nature and character of the offense charged, and of the time and circumstances of its commission, and in that sense it may be regarded as voidable and not absolutely void. Section 2512, Comp. Stat. 1921, provides: .

“An information may be amended in matter of substance or form at any time before the defendant pleads, without leave, and may be amended after plea on order of the court where the same can be done without material prejudice to the right of the defendant*; no amendment shall cause any delay of the trial, unless for good cause shown by affidavit. ’ ’

When the county attorney asked leave to amend the original information and amendment describing the property was made by leave of court, and the defendant asked and was given tíme to plead to the amended information, and interposed no objection to the discharge of the jury, under such circumstances the accused waived his right, if any he had, to claim former jeopardy. Allen v. State, 13 Okla. Cr. 533, 165 Pac. 745, L. R. A. 1917E, 1085; Bohannan v. State, *203 11 Okla. Cr. 69, 142 Pac. 1092; Loyd v. State, 6 Okla. Cr. 76, 116 Pac. 959; 1 Bishop, New Crim. Law. § 998.

In the original information a crime was charged, though imperfectly stated. The defect of failing to describe the property, under our liberal practice, could and should be cured by an amendment. That was done in this case. The accused knew the import of the accusation, the time and manner of the commission of the crime charged. The defect was one of form rather than of vital substance. That being true, we think the accused was placed in- jeopardy on the original information so soon as the jury was qualified and the trial commenced by the introduction of evidence. We think, too, he continued to be in jeopardy through all the subsequent proceedings, terminating in the verdict of guilty. The discharging of the jury to enable the defendant to plead over and prepare to meet the amendment made did, not operate as an acquittal. In the Bohannan Case, supra, the court said:

“The plain provisions of the law should be respected, and when the court found that the information was insufficient, the jury should have been 'discharged, and the cause passed for trial to such time as the statute could be complied with. There is ample authority for the position that the filing of a new information makes a new case, and that the accused is entitled to the statutory time in which to plead.”

In the case at bar the trial court followed the practice outlined in the Bohannan Case, by continuing the case so as to permit the accused to have the statutory time in which to plead the amended information.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1923 OK CR 77, 214 P. 202, 23 Okla. Crim. 198, 1923 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 179, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-state-oklacrimapp-1923.