Jarvis v. State

• Decision Date: 13 March 1917
• Citation: 73 Fla. 635,74 So. 794
• Parties: JARVIS v. STATE.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

74 So. 794

73 Fla. 635

JARVIS v. STATE.

Florida Supreme Court

March 13, 1917

Error to Circuit Court, Jackson County; Cephas L. Wilson, Judge.

W. B Jarvis was convicted of perjury, and he brings error. Affirmed.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

An indictment for perjury is sufficient which is not so vague indistinct, or indefinite as to mislead the accused, or embarrass him in the preparation of his defense, or expose him to substantial danger of a new prosecution for the same offense.

Matters that are not essential elements of the offense charged in an indictment or information, but are in the nature of a defense, need not be negatived.

Assignments of error based upon the exclusion of proffered testimony, in order to be available, must be so presented to an appellate court as to make it appear that such excluded testimony was relevant and material, or otherwise proper to be admitted.

A requested instruction is properly refused when the matters of law embraced therein have been fully and more correctly covered in the charge and instructions previously given.

Evidence examined, and found sufficient to support the verdict.

COUNSEL W. E. B. Smith, of Marianna, for plaintiff in error.

T. F West, Atty. Gen., and C. O. Andrews, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

OPINION

SHACKLEFORD J.

W. B. Jarvis seeks relief here from a conviction of the crime of perjury. The first assignment is based upon the overruling of the motion to quash the indictment. The indictment is quite lengthy, and it would serve no useful purpose to set it out in its entirety. Suffice it to say that it alleges the pendency of a certain chancery cause in the circuit court in and for Jackson county, wherein M. L. Dekle was complainant and W. B. Jarvis was defendant, in which H. A. Bowles had been appointed receiver, and in the order appointing such receiver W. B. Jarvis was required forthwith to surrender to the receiver a certain described contract and note. The indictment further alleges that such receiver had made a report to the court in which he set forth that Jarvis had failed and refused to surrender to such receiver such papers, whereon the court made an order, commanding the sheriff to bring Jarvis forthwith before the court to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of court and punished therefor. The indictment then proceeds with the following allegations:

'And thereafter on the said 25th day of September, A. D. 1916, the said W. B. Jarvis, appeared in custody of H. A. Bowles, sheriff of Jackson county, Florida, in the said court and before the Honorable Cephas L. Wilson, judge of said court, the said court being then and there open and sitting in Jackson county, Florida, at Marianna, the county seat, to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of said court and punished therefor. And it then and there became and was a material matter of which the said court then and there had jurisdiction for the said court and judge to know and be informed why the said W. B. Jarvis had not surrendered forthwith to the said receiver the said contract or lease and the said note. And the said W. B. Jarvis, then and there in Jackson county, Florida, with his own consent, in due form of law, was sworn as a witness in his own behalf by the Honorable Cephas L. Wilson, judge of said court, and he the said W. B. Jarvis then and there voluntarily, with his own consent, took an oath as a witness to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, the said oath being administered by the said judge, touching the said matter of disobedience of the order of said court; and he the said W. B. Jarvis then and there, upon his oath as a witness aforesaid, did willfully, wickedly, corruptly, designedly and falsely swear and depose that the reason he did not deliver the said contract or lease, and the said note, to the said receiver was, that at the time, the said receiver made demand for the said contract or lease and the said note, the same were locked in a safety deposit box in the Bank of Greenwood, at Greenwood, Fla., and that it was late Saturday evening, September 23, 1916, when said demand was made, and that said bank was closed, and that he could not get to said papers on account of their being locked in said safety deposit box in the said bank and the said bank being then closed.

'That the said statements, depositions, and testimony of the said W. B. Jarvis so made and given under his oath aforesaid, to the effect that the said contract or lease and the said note, at the time the said receiver made demand for same, were locked in a safety deposit box in the Bank of Greenwood, at Greenwood, Fla., and that he could not get to said contract or lease and said note on account of their being locked in said safety deposit box in said bank, were then and there knowingly, designedly, willfully, wickedly and corruptly perjured, false and untrue, and the said W. B. Jarvis then and there well knew the said statements, depositions and testimony, in the particulars aforesaid, were false, perjured and untrue, but notwithstanding, he the said W. B. Jarvis then and there, in the said court, in said cause, then and there the same, upon their oath aforesaid, testified and swore for the purpose of deceiving the said court, and cause the said court to release him from arrest and punishment for the said contempt of court.

'That whereas, in truth and in fact, the truth of the said matters then and there so sworn and testified to by the said W. B. Jarvis was that the said contract or lease and the said note were not in a safety deposit box in the Bank of Greenwood, at Greenwood, Fla., when the said receiver made demand upon the said W. B. Jarvis for the same, but were in some other place to the grand

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