Oliver v. Com.

• Decision Date: 10 March 1894
• Citation: 95 Ky. 372,25 S.W. 600
• Parties: OLIVER v. COMMONWEALTH.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

25 S.W. 600

95 Ky. 372

OLIVER v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

March 10, 1894

Appeal from circuit court, Perry county.

"Not to be officially reported."

John Oliver was convicted of cutting and sawing off the brands of saw logs, and appeals. Reversed.

Johnson, Hurst & Eversole, for appellant.

W. J. Hendrick, for the Commonwealth

BENNETT, C.J.

The appellant was indicted, tried, and convicted of the statutory crime of cutting and sawing off the brands of saw logs. The indictment was signed by the foreman of the grand jury, and returned into court, and received by it; but it was not indorsed, "A true bill."

Section 119 of the Criminal Code provides that the "concurrence of twelve grand jurors is required to find an indictment; when so found, it must be endorsed 'a true bill,' and the endorsement signed by the foreman." The provision of the Code supra is mandatory,-not merely directory,-that the indictment shall be "endorsed a true bill and signed by the foreman," which indorsement is the only legal and competent evidence that the paper filed is an indictment legally found; and, unless it is so indorsed, the paper is not an indictment legally returned into court, and which the accused is bound to answer. It is not a valid indictment, and it should have been dismissed upon demurrer. The case is reversed, with directions to dismiss the indictment.