Craft v. State

Citation42 Fla. 567,29 So. 418
PartiesCRAFT v. STATE.
Decision Date23 October 1900
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Florida

Error to circuit court, Baker county; Rhydon M. Call, Judge.

William Craft was convicted of perjury, and brings error. Reversed.

See 28 So. 761.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

1. An investigation by a grand jury of a crime that is within its jurisdiction to investigate and to indict for is a judicial proceeding in a court of justice, and perjury committed before them in such an investigation falls within that phase of the crime provided for by section 2561 of the Florida Revised Statutes.

2. In an indictment for perjury it is an essential allegation that the party charged was duly sworn, and that the oath was administered to him by some one authorized by law to administer such oath.

COUNSEL Leonidas E. Wade, for plaintiff in error.

William B. Lamar, Atty. Gen., for the State.

OPINION

TAYLOR C.J.

The plaintiff in error, hereinafter called the 'defendant,' was indicted for perjury at the fall term, 1899, of the circuit court for Baker county; was tried convicted, and sentenced therefor at the spring term, 1900 of said court, and took writ of error.

The sixth assignment of error is the overruling of the defendant's motion in arrest of judgment. This motion was upon the following grounds: (1) The indictment does not charge an offense under the laws of Florida.

(2) The indictment purports to charge a crime, to wit, of perjury committed in a judicial proceeding, and then and therein recites that the false oath (if taken at all) was taken before the grand jury of said county, and was not committed before the court on trial of indictment or information before a court.

(3) The crimes, as appears in the laws of Florida, in sections 2560, 2561, Rev. St., are separate and distinct offenses, and cannot be blended together. A person cannot be convicted on an indictment found for perjury in a judicial proceeding, when the false oath was taken before the grand jury of the county. The grand jury is no judicial body, and cannot hear and determine nor settle a matter judicially.

The indictment assailed by this motion is as follows:

'In Circuit Court for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Baker County, Fall Term, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety-Nine.
'State of Florida vs. William Craft. Indictment for Perjury.
'In the name and by virtue of the state of Florida:
'The grand jurors of the state of Florida, impaneled and sworn to inquire and true presentments make in and for the body of the county of Baker, upon their oath do present that one William Craft, late of the county of Baker and state of Florida, on the 3d day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, in the county and state aforesaid, with force and arms, at and in the county of Baker aforesaid, at the spring term of the circuit court of the state of Florida in and for said county of Baker, and the said William Craft being then and there brought before the presence of the grand jury of said county, then and there lawfully impaneled and sworn, to testify before said grand jury as to certain matters and things concerning and respecting the killing and murder of one George P. Canova, who was killed and murdered in said county of Baker on the 5th day of June, A. D. 1898, of which said killing and murder the aforesaid grand jury was then and there inquiring, and the said inquiry of the said grand jury being then and there a judicial proceeding under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Florida, and the said William Craft, being then and there in the presence of the said grand jury, was then and there lawfully required to depose the truth, and was then and there duly and lawfully sworn to depose the truth, as to certain material matter and things concerning the killing and murder of the said George P. Canova; and the said William Craft being then and there lawfully sworn to depose the truth, and it being material to the finding and inquiry pending before the said grand jury as aforesaid to inquire and ascertain who the person or persons was or were who killed and murdered the said George P. Canova, and the aforesaid William Craft being then and there duly sworn to depose the truth, and having duly sworn to depose the truth, did willfully, corruptly, wickedly, maliciously, and falsely swear and testify that he was at the scene of the killing and murder of the said George P. Canova in the said county of Baker on the 5th day of June, A. D. 1898, and that he then and there saw one William P. Ridgon and two other persons before said killing and murder at said time, and that the said William P. Rigdon spoke to him of and concerning the proposed
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18 cases
  • Grand Jury Investigation, In re
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • December 5, 1973
    ...in or before any court? Answer: yes. As long ago as 1900, this Court, in defining the nature of a grand jury proceeding in Craft v. State, 42 Fla. 567, 29 So. 418, 419, 'We think that an investigation of a crime by a Grand jury that is within its jurisdiction to investigate and to indict fo......
  • Gordon v. State
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • July 25, 1958
    ...grand jury investigation is a judicial proceeding which will support a charge of perjury if the other elements are present. Craft v. State, 42 Fla. 567, 29 So. 418; Rivers v. State, 121 Fla. 887, 164 So. 544; Tindall v. State, One of the principal points assigned by the appellants for rever......
  • Markey v. State
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • June 4, 1904
    ...a competent tribunal, person, or officer lawfully constituted, elected, or appointed. 22 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law (2d. Ed.) 683; Craft v. State, 42 Fla. 567, 29 So. 418; Hawkins' Pleas of the Crown, 431; 2 Bishop's Crim. Law, § 1020. In the case of State ex rel. Ross v. Call, 39 Fla. 504, 22 So......
  • Tindall v. State
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • May 17, 1930
    ...a judicial proceeding, coming within the provision of section 7477, Compiled General Laws of Florida, 1927. In the case of Craft v. State, 42 Fla. 567, 29 So. 418, it was that under our judicial system a grand jury is an appendage or adjunct to the circuit court, and that an investigation b......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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