Jacques v. State
| Decision Date | 11 July 1923 |
| Parties | JACQUES v. STATE. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Error to Circuit Court, Walton County; A. G. Campbell, Judge.
Harry Jacques was convicted of grand larceny, and he bring error.
Affirmed.
Syllabus by the Court
Discretion of trial court will not be reversed in absence of abuse applications in criminal cases will be more closely scanned than in civil cases. The rule is that trial courts have a broad discretion in granting or denying applications for continuance of causes, and that their exercise of this discretion will not be reversed by an appellate court unless it be clearly shown that there has been a palpable abuse of such discretion to the manifest injury of the party against whom it has been exercised. The rule further requires that applications for continuance in criminal cases shall be more closely and rigidly scanned than in civil causes because of the greater temptation in a criminal case to seek delay.
Continuance incriminal case will not be granted on account of absence of witness to good character of accused. Generally, a continuance will not be granted in a criminal case on account of the absence of a witness as to the good character of the accused.
Application on ground of absence of witnesses held properly refused in criminal case. It is not reversible error for a trial court to deny an application for continuance because of the absence of witnesses and inability to obtain their depositions in time for trial during the term, based upon an affidavit of the accused from which it appears that his information with respect to such witnesses and evidence was obtained from a third party who was present at the court but from whom no affidavit in corroboration was offered, and when it further appears that such alleged evidence is either as to the good character of the accused or is negative in character and, if obtained and offered, would not be likely to affect the result.
Conviction will not be reversed where sustained by evidence, although technical errors in procedure may have occurred. Where the evidence is ample to sustain the verdict and there is nothing in the record to indicate that the jury were influenced by anything other than a due consideration of the evidence, a judgment of conviction will not be reversed, although there may have been technical errors of procedure in the trial of the case.
S. K. Gillis, of De Funiak Springs, for plaintiff in error.
Rivers Buford, Atty. Gen., and J. B. Gaines, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Plaintiff in error, Harry Jacques, was tried in the circuit court of Walton county upon a charge of grand larceny. The verdict was guilty as charged. He was adjudged guilty by the court. To review this judgment writ of error was taken from this court.
Rulings of the trial court denying a motion for continuance and denying a motion to set aside the verdict and grant a new trial are assigned as errors.
After being arraigned, counsel for defendant moved the court for a continuance, which was supported by an affidavit of defendant in which he says that----
'He cannot go safely into trial in the abovestated case because of the absence of material witnesses and his inability to obtain the depositions of the said witnesses in time to try the said cause at the present term of this court.'
The names and addresses of the absent witnesses were given showing them to be residents of Chicago, Ill. It is stated in the affidavit that certain of the witnesses named would testify that he or she 'knows the defendant, knows his general reputation in the community in which he has lived for honesty and as a law-abiding person, that said reputation is good'; and that certain other of the witnesses named would testify that they were acquainted with the alleged owner of the stolen property and that 'she did not have such a ring as the one alleged to have been stolen, that the financial condition of said party and her husband was such that they were disposing of and had disposed of most of their belongings in order to obtain some things on which to subsist. '
The question is whether, conceding the affidavit to be otherwise sufficient (which we do not pass upon), the trial court committed reversible error in overruling the motion for continuance. In Hall v. State, 70 fla. 48, 69 So 692, this court, speaking through Mr. Chief Justice Taylor said:
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Henderson v. State
...v. State, 85 Fla. 384, 96 So. 155; Shuler v. State, 84 Fla. 414, 93 So. 672; Crawford v. State, 86 Fla. 94, 97 So. 288; Jacques v. State, 86 Fla. 137, 97 So. 380; v. State, 84 Fla. 677, 95 So. 113; Holmberg v. Hardee, 90 Fla. 787, 108 So. 213; Stephens v. State (Fla.) 109 So. 303; Herd v. M......
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Diehl v. State
... ... See Adams v. State, 56 ... Fla. 1, 48 So. 219; Hagan v. State, 66 Fla. 268, 63 ... So. 443; Walker v. State, 93 Fla. 1069, 113 So. 96; ... Whitman v. State, 97 Fla. 988, 122 So. 567; ... Bryant v. State, 34 Fla. 291, 16 So. 177; Hall ... v. State, 70 Fla. 48, 69 So. 692; Jacques v ... State, 86 Fla. 137, 97 So. 380; Pittman v ... State, 51 Fla. 94, 41 So. 385, 8 L. R. A. (N. S.) 509 ... It is ... also true that applications for continuances are addressed to ... the sound discretion of the court. See Maddox v ... State, 69 Fla. 695, 69 So. 20; Clinton v ... ...
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Brown v. State
... ... an appellate court unless it is clearly shown that there has ... been a palpable abuse of such discretion to the injury of the ... party against whom it was exercised. See Ward v ... State, 83 Fla. 311, 91 So. 189; Yarborough v ... State, 94 Fla. 143, 114 So. 237; Jacques v ... State, 86 Fla. 137, 97 So. 380; Hall v. State, ... 70 Fla. 48, 69 So. 692; Maddox v. State, 69 Fla ... 695, 69 So. 20; Webster v. State, 47 Fla. 108, 36 ... So. 584; Denham v. State, 22 Fla. 664; Clinton ... v. State, 53 Fla. 98, 43 So. 312, 12 Ann.Cas. 150; ... Jerry v. State, 99 ... ...
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Yarborough v. State
... ... error in overruling them. It would seem that this court has ... sufficiently discussed the rule pertaining to continuances in ... criminal cases to be universally versally known among the ... members of the bar throughout the state. From the case of ... Ahren v. Willis, 6 Fla. 359, to Jacques v ... State, 86 Fla. 137, 97 So. 380, this court has ... consistently held that trial courts have a broad discretion ... in granting or denying applications for continuance of causes ... and that their exercise of discretion will not be reversed by ... an appellate court unless it be clearly ... ...