Bennett v. State
| Decision Date | 13 July 1928 |
| Citation | 96 Fla. 237,118 So. 18 |
| Parties | BENNETT v. STATE. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Error to Circuit Court, Bradford County; A. Z. Adkins, Judge.
Everett Bennett was convicted of manslaughter, and he brings error.
Affirmed.
Syllabus by the Court
Remedy of person in custody on criminal charge to secure release on bail is by habeas corpus. Where a person is in the custody of the law upon a criminal charge and desires release on bail his remedy is by habeas corpus.
Accused desiring further time to prepare defense should when case is called for trial make application for continuance. A person accused of crime, who, when his case is called for trial desires further time to prepare his defense, should make application for a continuance, if suitable grounds exist upon which to rest such application.
Continuance of cause at one term does not preclude its trial at special term called after adjournment (Rev. Gen. St. 1920, § 3056). The continuance of a cause at one term of the court does not preclude its trial at a special term called after the adjournment of the term at which the continuance was granted.
Attorney is not disqualified from acting as assistant prosecuting attorney because service were unsuccessfully sought by accused prior to trial. An attorney is not disqualified from acting as assistant prosecuting attorney in a criminal case merely because his services have been unsuccessfully sought by the accused prior to the trial.
Voluntary extrajudicial confession is admissible in evidence. An extrajudicial confession by one charged with crime, if voluntarily made is admissible in evidence.
Whole of statement containing an admission should be received statement of accused is not rendered inadmissible because accused failed to reveal something else he had in mind. The whole of a statement containing an admission should be received, but it is not rendered inadmissible because the accused may have had something else in his mind at the time which he chose not to reveal.
J. L. Frazee and E. M. Johns, both of Starke, for plaintiff in error.
Fred H. Davis, Atty. Gen., and Roy Campbell, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Everett Bennett was indicted for the murder of Lee Morgan, and was convicted of manslaughter.
The trial of the defendant occurred in December, 1927. A month before the defendant moved the court to be admitted to bail. The motion was denied and counsel assign that ruling as the fifth error committed. The trial of the defendant had not begun. If he desired bail, it could have been obtained by a writ of habeas corpus, if the proof was not evident and the presumption not great.
The preliminary application to be admitted to bail is not part of the trial. One may not wait until his case is called for trial and then apply for bail that he might be given thereby an opportunity personally to prepare his defense. A motion for continuance is the proper remedy, and, if grounds exist for it and the proper showing is made, the court will grant the continuance during which bail may be secured by proceedings in habeas corpus, if deemed expedient. There was no error in denying the motion.
There was a motion for a continuance and it was denied. That ruling is assigned as the sixth error.
The motion rests upon the ground that during a regular term of the court held in November, 1927, the cause on motion of the defendant was continued to the 12th day of December, 1927, and the court then adjourned. It is said that such order continued the cause for the term--that is to say, until the next regular term--but that a special term of the court was called to begin on Friday the 7th day of December and on the 12th day of December the defendant was placed on trial. There was no error in overruling the motion. The court's statement as to what occurred is somewhat different from the averments of the affidavit, in that it appears that, when the cause was continued in November, 1927, it was continued to a day certain, December 12, 1927. The record shows that on November 17, 1927, all causes and motions not otherwise disposed of were continued for the term.
Circuit judges are authorized to order extra and special terms of circuit courts. Section 3056, Revised General Statutes 1920.
The contention that the order of continuance carried the case over and beyond the special term subsequently called and deprived the court of jurisdiction to try the indictment on which the defendant was held at the special term is apparently without any force. If that circumstance had the effect of putting the defendant in an awkward position, or embarrassed him in his defense, or otherwise deprived him of the opportunity of preparing his defense, some such showing might have revealed an abuse of the court's discretion; but we find nothing in the motion, which is sworn to by the accused, to convince us that the court abused its discretion in denying the motion.
The record discloses that the crime was committed in November, 1926; the indictment in this case was returned on November 9, 1927; the first grand jury which convened after the commission of the offense failed to indict the defendant and he was released from custody, having been arrested for the commission of the crime; some time thereafter he was again arrested, charged with the offense, and was in confinenment when the indictment was returned; he obtained a continuance for 30 days and was then required to go to trial. He had ample opportunity therefore to prepare his defense.
The seventh assignment of error rests upon an order overruling the defendant's objection to Hon. D. E. Knight acting as assistant prosecuting attorney in the cause. Counsel contends that Mr. Knight was disqualified. The facts are that his son, H. V. Knight, is the state's attorney for the Twenty-Sixth...
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Nock v. State
...effect should be given to the whole conversation. Thalheim , 20 So. at 947 ; accord Morey , 72 So. at 493 ; see also Bennett v. State , 96 Fla. 237, 118 So. 18, 19 (1928) ("The rule as to admissions in general is that the whole of the statement containing the admission is to be received tog......
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Territory Hawai`i v. Corum
...to explain its character and import. The whole of a conversation containing an admission should be received in evidence. (Bennett v. State, 96 Fla. 237, 118 So. 18.) Any statement made by a defendant though not admitting the commission of the crime charged as against his interest is compete......
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Territory of Hawaii v. Corum
... ... accusation is made ... By the ... Federal as well as many state courts it is held that the fact ... of arrest on a criminal charge alone is sufficient to render ... inadmissible as evidence the failure of an ... character and import. The whole of a conversation containing ... an admission should be received in evidence. ( ... Bennett v. State, 96 Fla. 237, 118 ... Any ... statement made by a defendant though not admitting the ... commission of the crime ... ...
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...no improper influences were exerted or reward held out to obtain it, the confession is properly admitted into evidence. See Bennett v. State, 96 Fla. 237, 118 So. 18; Nickels v. State, 90 Fla. 659, 106 So. Green v. State, 40 Fla. 474, 24 So. 537; Browne v. State, 92 Fla. 699, 109 So. 811; W......