City of Kirksville v. Munyon

• Decision Date: 06 November 1905
• Citation: 91 S.W. 57,114 Mo. App. 567
• Parties: CITY OF KIRKSVILLE v. MUNYON.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

91 S.W. 57

114 Mo. App. 567

CITY OF KIRKSVILLE v. MUNYON.

Kansas City Court of Appeals. Missouri.

November 6, 1905.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS—VIOLATION OF POLICE REGULATIONS—COMPLAINT.

Where a municipal ordinance of a city of the third class, with the violation of which defendant was charged, provided that he should be entitled to a trial by jury as in prosecutions before justices of the peace, "and all trials before the recorder shall be conducted in like manner as cases before the justice of the peace," it did not render applicable to such proceedings the practice regulating the procedure in misdemeanor cases before justices of the peace, requiring the filing of an information, signed and verified by the prosecuting attorney, in the police court of the city, but defendant could be properly proceeded against under the statute applicable to cities of the third class on the filing of a sworn complaint by any person.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Adair County; Nat M. Shelton, Judge.

John Munyon, having been convicted in the police court of the city of Kirksville of violating a city ordinance, appealed to the circuit court, where he was discharged on an objection to the jurisdiction from which the city appeals. Reversed.

A. D. Risdon and A. Doneghy, for appellant. Rieger & Rieger, for respondent.

JOHNSON, J.

Defendant was arrested under a warrant issued from the police court of the city of Kirksville, a city of the third class, upon the verified complaint of the prosecuting witness, which charged him with the violation of an ordinance. He was tried before a jury, convicted, and fined, and in due time appealed to the circuit court, where he filed a plea in abatement, attacking the jurisdiction of the court over the action, upon the ground that the ordinance regulating the procedure in such cases provides that "defendant shall be entitled to a trial by jury, as in prosecutions, before justices of the peace, and all trials before the recorder shall be conducted in like manner as cases before the justice of the peace," and, as no information signed by the city attorney was filed, the police court was without authority to proceed with the trial, and lost jurisdiction over defendant. After hearing evidence introduced in support of the plea, the court sustained it and discharged the defendant. From the judgment, the plaintiff city appealed.

It appears to be conceded that, in the absence of municipal legislation to the contrary, a defendant charged with the...