Koerner v. State
| Decision Date | 19 June 1884 |
| Docket Number | 11,700 |
| Parties | Koerner v. The State |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
From the Criminal Court of Marion County.
S Claypool, W. A. Ketcham and B. F. Watts, for appellant.
A verdict was returned against the appellant finding him guilty of murder in the first degree, and affixing the punishment of death. On the 10th day of April, 1884, the court informed the appellant of the verdict that had been returned against him and asked him if he had any cause to show why judgment should not be pronounced, and, no cause being shown, the court pronounced judgment and fixed the time for the execution on the 27th day of June, 1884. The record recites that the appellant and his counsel were present when the judgment was pronounced, and there does not appear to have been any objection to the time fixed, nor was there any agreement as to the time; the appellant simply remained silent. The time fixed for the execution was less than one hundred days from the time judgment was pronounced, and the question is whether the action of the court fixing the time at a shorter period than one hundred days can be sustained.
The statute provides that "The punishment of death prescribed by law, must be inflicted by hanging by the neck until the person is dead, at such time, not less than one hundred days after conviction, as the court may adjudge." This provision is in terms mandatory, and the connection in which it is found adds emphatically to its force. It affects in a high degree the rights of a man condemned to die, and is a matter in which courts, officers and society have an interest; for the executive, charged with the duty of determining whether a pardon is proper, and the courts, in deciding whether the conviction is a just one, require time for full consideration and calm deliberation, and society has an interest in securing to a condemned man ample time to invoke such aid as the law places at his command. The law has fixed the time which shall elapse between the sentence and its execution, and to the law, courts, officers and citizens must yield obedience. The time has been definitely and decisively fixed by the law-makers of the land, and no power, save that of the law-makers, can break down or alter the rule so positively and fully declared. Whether the limit is a wise or an unwise one is not a question for the courts, but is purely a question for the Legislature, and their...
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State v. Williams
... ... the defendant to be hanged and in not permitting the jury to ... hear the evidence, accepting the plea of defendant and ... instructing the jury to return a verdict and fix the penalty ... Sec. 3247, R. S. 1919; Wartner v. State, 102 Ind ... 57; Lowery v. Howard, 103 Ind. 440; Koerner v ... State, 96 Ind. 243; Crowder v. State, 69 Ark ... 330; State v. Genz, 57 N. J. 459; Bell v ... State, 44 Ala. 9; Concemi v. People, 18 N.Y ... 128. The action of the court in this case was a denial to the ... defendant of due process of law, notwithstanding the fact ... that ... ...
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State v. Williams
...to return a verdict and fix the penalty. Sec. 3247, R.S. 1919; Wartner v. State, 102 Ind. 57; Lowery v. Howard, 103 Ind. 440; Koerner v. State, 96 Ind. 243; Crowder v. State, 69 Ark. 330; State v. Genz, 57 N.J. 459; Bell v. State, 44 Ala. 9; Concemi v. People, 18 N.Y. 128. The action of the......
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Wartner v. The State
... ... and that the court, without the intervention of a jury, tried ... his case, found him guilty as charged and adjudged that he ... suffer the penalty of death. This the court was not ... authorized to do, nor was the appellant authorized to consent ... thereto by any law of this State. Koerner v ... State, 96 Ind. 243. After the appellant's plea ... of guilty, the proceedings and judgment of the court are ... erroneous, and errors of so grave a character [102 Ind. 54] ... that he has the right to insist upon them here as affording ... substantial grounds for the reversal of the ... ...