City of Elvins v. De Priest, s. 31687
| Decision Date | 21 December 1965 |
| Docket Number | 31776,Nos. 31687,s. 31687 |
| Parties | The CITY OF ELVINS, (Plaintiff) Respondent, v. Oran DE PRIEST, (Defendant) Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Roy W. McGhee, Jr., Piedmont, for appellant.
E. L. McClintock, Jr., Flat River, for respondent.
The City of Elvins has an ordinance levying an annual tax on locally owned motor vehicles, the payment of which is to be evidenced by a sticker which 'must be displayed on the lower right hand side of the windshield, as near the lower right hand corner as possible.' Whoever shall fail to comply with the provisions of the ordinance 'shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined.' Appellant paid the prescribed tax, obtained the sticker The decisive question in the case is whether the prosecution was initiated and conducted in substantial compliance with the Rules of the Supreme Court regulating the procedure to be followed in municipal courts in cases of this kind. V.A.M.R., 37.01 et seq. These facts frame the issue: The city marshal, upon discovery of appellant's dereliction, issued to him one copy, and filed with the police judge a duplicate, of a partly printed, partly handwritten 'ticket' in the following form, the handwritten portions being italicized:
and attached it to the windshield of his car, but admittedly not 'as near the lower right hand corner as possible.' For that infraction he was arrested and fined in city court. He appealed to the circuit court, was again convicted and fined $1.00 and again appeals.
You Must Report To
The Police Judge
Date 3-17-62
Time 9-A M
Elvins, Mo., March 3-16, 1962
State License Number AS-4660
Name Orren DE-Preast
Address Elvins Mo
Location Frount St.
Time 2 30 P M
not Displaying City Licens one are in corriect Place on winshield of his car You will report to the office of the Police Judge at City Hall, Elvins, on this date and at the time shown above or a Warrant of Arrest will be issued.
This notice is given to you in lieu of immediate issuance and service of warrant for arrest and for your convenience. Please cooperate in the enforcement of these safety measures. No officer or any individual can take care of this ticket for you. You must attend to it yourself. Officer Henry Harris, City Marshal.
When appellant failed to appear in response to that notice, the police judge summarily issued a warrant for his arrest and his trial ensued without further formality.
Pointing to the fact that no complaint or information was ever filed in the case, appellant insists that his conviction in the city court was a nullity, violative of Rules 37.06, 37.07, 37.08 and 37.18, and that his motion to dismiss the prosecution in the court below should, consequently, have been sustained. Respondent concedes the omission but argues, in the language of Rule 37.28, that in this case it 'does not tend to the prejudice of the substantial rights of the defendant upon the merits' because the notice, as supplemented by the recitations of the warrant itself, adequately informed appellant of the nature of the charge against him; hence, that no actual prejudice could have resulted, citing City of St. Louis v. Page, Mo.App., 259 S.W.2d 98.
We may dispose of the authority on which that proposition rests by observing that it turned on a special provision of the Code of the City of St. Louis which finds no counterpart in the record before us, and was decided some seven years before the effective date of the Rules which were designed to supplant local regulations on the subject. Whatever independent merit the proposition may have must be found in the light of the settled principle that 'a prosecution for violation of a municipal ordinance is a civil proceeding with quasi-criminal aspects,' Kansas City v. Martin, Mo.App., 369 S.W.2d 602, 608; and among those 'aspects' is the requirement of 'a written accusation of crime...
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City of St. Joseph v. Johnson, KCD
...(Mo.App.1974). A proceeding for breach of a municipal ordinance is a civil action with quasi-criminal aspects. City of Elvins v. De Priest, 398 S.W.2d 22, 23(1) (Mo.App.1965). In the first, the State is a party in interest, and in the second, it is the municipality. The disparity of the par......
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City of Kansas City v. Narron
...such information is signed by the prosecutor and filed with the court. Kansas City v. Asby, Mo.App., 377 S.W.2d 511; City of Elvins v. De Priest, Mo.App., 398 S.W.2d 22. It would seem to be implicit in the authority of the prosecutor in making this examination and evaluation of the complain......
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Smith v. City of St. Louis
...while keeping in mind the traditional rights of the accused and the orderly administration of justice. See City of Elvins v. De Priest 398 S.W.2d 22, 24 (Mo.App. St.L.1965). City's Notice of Violation is analogous to a petition in that both institute proceedings against a party. City is wit......
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Smith v. City of St. Louis, ED98263
...while keeping in mind the traditional rights of the accused and the orderly administration of justice. See City of Elvins v. De Priest, 398 S.W.2d 22, 24 (Mo. App. St.L. 1965). City's Notice of Violation is analogous to a petition in that both institute proceedings against a party. City is ......