Baldwin v. Com.

• Decision Date: 12 January 1951
• Citation: 314 Ky. 369,235 S.W.2d 771
• Parties: BALDWIN v. COMMONWEALTH.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

Page 771

235 S.W.2d 771

314 Ky. 369

BALDWIN v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

Jan. 12, 1951.

Wilson K. Beatty, Louisville, for appellant.

A. E. Funk, Atty. Gen., Carl Ousley, Jr., Asst. Commonwealth Atty., Louisville, John H. Dougherty, Louisville, for appellee.

LATIMER, Justice.

This matter is before us on appeal from lower court's denial of writ of habeas corpus.

Appellant was arrested by an officer of the Police Department of the City of Louisville, apparently on a number of charges, among which was the charge of 'operating a motor vehicle without a license.' It appears that some 9 or 10 months prior to this arrest, appellant had been convicted of a drunken driving charge in the Police Court of the City of Louisville. Appellant, when faced with the charges in court, admitted driving without an operator's license. It appears that all the charges were filed away, except that of operating without a license, on which charge appellant was fined $500 and sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.

Appellant, by his writ of habeas corpus, attacks the jurisdiction of the Police Court to try the offense for which he was convicted.

It is insisted that the offense herein is an indictable offense, and being such, the Police Court had no jurisdiction to prosecute in the absence of an indictment.

Let us look first to the question of jurisdiction of city and police courts. Appellant first calls attention to Subsection 4 of Section 13 of the Criminal Code of Practice, which provides: 'City and police courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all prosecutions and actions for an infraction of the by-laws or ordinances of the city or town in which they are located, and concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts, and justices' courts, of prosecutions for misdemeanors committed in the town or city, the punishment of which is a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, and, also, such jurisdiction as is, or may be, provided by the special statutes creating or regulating such courts.'

It is contended that this section is in conflict with KRS 26.010, which provides: 'Except as provided in KRS 167.990, 199.990 and 242.990, police courts in cities of every class have jurisdiction exclusive of circuit courts in all penal and misdemeanor cases where the punishment is limited to a fine of not more than twenty dollars, jurisdiction concurrent with circuit courts of all penal and misdemeanor cases where the punishment is limited to a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or both, and exclusive jurisdiction of all violations of city ordinances, occurring within the city limits.'

It is pointed out that the section of the Criminal Code of Practice above gives concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court and justices' courts of all prosecutions for misdemeanors committed in the town or city, the punishment of which is a fine not exceeding $100; whereas, in KRS 26.010 the police court, in cities of every class, has concurrent jurdisdiction with circuit courts of all penal and misdemeanor cases where the punishment is limited to a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment not exceeding 12 months, or both.

We need only call attention to the latter part of subsection 4 of the section of the Criminal Code of Practice above, which provides: '* * * and, also, such jurisdiction as is, or may be, provided by the special statutes creating or regulating such courts.' Thus, we see that any such supposed conflict disappears because we do have the 'and, also, such jurisdiction' provided by statutes. Under the provision of the statute above, the police court had jurisdiction of the offense.

We must next pass to the question of whether or not, after having jurisdiction, the police court may prosecute this charge on information or warrant. KRS 455.080 provides: 'In circuit court, persons charged with misdemeanors for which the highest penalty that may be imposed is a fine of one hundred dollars and imprisonment for fifty days may be prosecuted by warrant or by information filed by the Commonwealth's attorney or county attorney in the circuit court. In courts inferior to circuit courts, any offense within the jurisdiction of the court may be prosecuted on a warrant or information filed before the judge or justice. The information shall be signed by the officer filing it, and shall state the nature of the offense charged. When the information is filed, the judge or justice shall at once issue a warrant or summons against the offender, commanding him to appear, within three days, at the time and before the court, judge or justice mentioned therein, and the amount of bail that he may give for his appearance shall be specified in the warrant or summons. The warrant or summons may be directed to any peace officer, and shall be...