City of Shreveport v. Bryson

• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Citation: City of Shreveport v. Bryson, 212 La. 534, 33 So.2d 60 (La. 1947)
• Decision Date: 10 November 1947
• Docket Number: 38651.
• Parties: CITY OF SHREVEPORT v. BRYSON.

33 So.2d 60

212 La. 534

CITY OF SHREVEPORT v. BRYSON.

No. 38651.

Supreme Court of Louisiana

November 10, 1947

Albert E. Bryson, of Shreveport, for defendant-relator.

William L. Murdock, Ass't. City Atty., of Shreveport, for plaintiff-respondent.

HAWTHORNE Justice.

Relatrix was charged in the city court of Shreveport, Louisiana, with the crime of operating a motor vehicle in a careless and reckless manner on the streets of that city, the charge in the affidavit reading as follows:

'Unlawfully did operate motor vehicle in a careless and reckless manner on the streets of the city of Shreveport Louisiana in that he [she] did operate said vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs.'

A motion to quash filed by relatrix was overruled, and she was tried convicted, and sentenced to pay a fine of $100 and to serve 30 days in jail. From this conviction and sentence she appealed to the First Judicial District Court for the Parish of Caddo, and that court, after trial, affirmed the conviction and sentence. She then applied to this court for writs, which were granted, and the case is now before us under our supervisory jurisdiction.

The motion to quash, which was filed in the city court and overruled, was filed anew in the district court and again overruled. To each of these rulings the defense objected and reserved a formal bill of exception. In the motion to quash defendant alleged among other things, that the affidavit filed against her charged the offenses alternatively and consequently did not inform her whether the prosecution intended to prove that she was intoxicated or whether it intended to prove that she was drugged, and hence she was unable to prepare her defense.

Ordinance 207 of 1923 of the City of Shreveport, filed in evidence in the district court, is a general traffic ordinance regulating the movement of motor-driven and horse-driven vehicles, street cars, other conveyances, etc. Section 35 thereof, as amended, defines reckless driving and reads as follows:

'Section 35: Reckless Driving Defined. Be it further ordained * * * That reckless driving shall be held to mean the following offenses which are hereby prohibited.

'* * * * * * *'

Immediately following this provision are eight separate and distinct paragraphs naming the various offenses which constitute reckless driving, these paragraphs being designated in the ordinance by the letters 'a' through 'h', both inclusive, for example: '(c) Driving a vehicle to the left of a street car when said street car is headed in the same direction'; '(e) Driving a vehiclt in violation of the Ordinance regulating right of way streets, and their intersections'; '(g) Driving a vehicle through an alley at an excessive rate of speed'.

Defendant was tried and convicted under Section 35, Paragraph (a), of this ordinance, which reads as follows:

'Section 35: Reckless Driving Defined. Be it further ordained * * * That reckless driving shall be held to mean the following offenses which are hereby prohibited.

'(a) Driving a vehicle within the City of Shreveport while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drugs.'

Article 222 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that several distinct offenses disjunctively enumerated in the same law or in the same section of a criminal statute may be cumulated in the same count when it appears that they are connected with the same transaction and constitute but one act, but, in that event, they must be charged conjunctively.

The section of the ordinance of the City...