Smith v. State of Mississippi, 710
| Decision Date | 13 April 1896 |
| Docket Number | No. 710,710 |
| Citation | 40 L.Ed. 1082,162 U.S. 592,16 S.Ct. 900 |
| Parties | SMITH v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
The plaintiff in error, Charley Smith, was charged by indictment in the circuit court of Bolivar county, Miss., with having on the 14th day of May, 1894, in that county, willfully, feloniously, and of malice aforethought, killed and murdered one Wiley Nesby.
Before arraignment the accused moved, upon grounds stated in writing, to quash the indictment. One of those grounds was that the grand jurors who presented the indictment were not impartial, 'as guarantied by the constitution of the state aforesaid and of the United States, of which the defendant is a citizen of color, black'; another, 'because of the prejudice against him and his race on account of their color, the grand jury aforesaid was purposely selected of the white race, to the exclusion of the colored persons of the county competent for jury service, by the officers charged therewith, under the state law, on account of their color, for the purpose of procuring this indictment against defendant in violation of his constitutional right to be tried for his life upon the charge of murder herein in the circuit [court] of Bolivar county, state aforesaid'; still another, that the grand jury 'was not a duly elected and legally impaneled grand jury, as contemplated in the guaranties of the constitution of the state of Mississippi, and the constitution of the United States.'
The motion to quash the indictment was overruled. The record shows that the defendant duly excepted to the action of the court, but does not show that any evidence was introduced in support of the motion.
The accused was then arraigned, and pleaded not guilty. He demanded a special venire. Thereupon 50 names were drawn from the jury box, in open court, and process was issued for those persons.
The case having been continued, the accused at the next term made an application by petition for the removal of the cause for trial into the circuit court of the United States for the Western division of the Southern district of Mississippi. The petition is here given in full:
'This petition respectfully shows that Charley Smith, a citizen of the United States, is in custody of the sheriff of Bolivar county, Mississippi, by virtue of an indictment presented by what purports to have been a regular grand jury for the May term of said circuit court, 1894, upon a charge of murder. Relator states that he is a citizen of the state of Mississippi, and that under the constitution of said state (section 14 thereof) he is guarantied that for such an offense he shall first be presented and tried by an impartial jury. Further, that he shall not be deprived of his liberty or of his life i the state aforesaid except by due process of law, and that said state constitution, as shown and prescribed in section 264 thereof, which qualifications shall be required of jurors, grand and petit, in the said state; and that the statute of 1892 of said state, styled the 'Annotated Code of Mississippi,' adopted by the state legislature on ___ day of April, 1892, prescribes new and separate requirements for jurors, different, separate, and distinct from those requirements fixed by the constitution of said state, to wit: The constitution of the state prescribes (section 264) that all qualified electors able to read and write shall be competent to serve as jurors in the courts of the state. The statute of said state, viz. the Annotated Code of 1892, section _____ thereof, provides that the board of supervisors of said county shall use as a guide (in selecting names of persons to serve as jurors for the two terms of the circuit court next, respectively, to be holden after the then list being prepared by them, the said board of supervisors) the registration roll of legal voters of the county, and that they shall select as jurors to serve as aforesaid, persons of 'good intelligence, fair character and sound judgment'; and such of said statute is in conflict with the constitution of said state. Further, the record of the board of supervisors of said county shows that the list of jurors averred to have been drawn by them for the term then next to follow, being the said May term, 1894, was prepared under an order of said board of said county, which is as follows: 'Ordered by the board that the following named persons be and are hereby, selected to serve as petit jurors for the next term of the circuit court;' which said order of said board fails to show upon its face that the list so selected for the purpose aforesaid was selected from the registration roll of said county; said order fails to show that the persons so named in the list were citizens of said county, or were selected according to the laws of the state, or that they were qualified voters, duly registered according to law; and further fails to show that they, the persons so selected, were so selected to serve in Bolivar county, state aforesaid. Relator further states that the certificate of the circuit clerk of the said county, the sheriff of said county, and the chancery clerk of said county, which is attached to the list of names drawn from the jury box, constituting the petit jurors for the first week of said May term of circuit court of said county, and copied in the minutes of the first day's proceedings of the said court, is void: First. Because the circuit clerk, J. E. Ousley, did not personally attend the drawing of said list, but said certificate shows that he was represented in said drawing by deputy clerk. The statute prescribes that the circuit clerk shall officiate at said drawing, which must not be more than 15 days before first day of said term. Second. Because the said officers charged with the drawing of said jurors failed to certify, as the law directs, 'whether the envelopes containing the names appeared to have been opened or disfigured,' and this list of names contained the names of the persons who were selected by the circuit court on the 1st day of said May term, 1894, as grand jurors, which grand jury presented relator on said indictment.
The petition to remove the cause was verified by the oath of the accused to the effect that the facts set out in it were 'true, to the best of his knowledge and information and belief.'
The application to remove the cause into the circuit court of the United States for trial was denied, and the accused excepted to this action of the state court.
The defendant then moved that the trial be postponed to a future day of the term, on account of the absence of certain witnesses, without whose testimony, he alle...
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