People v. Clampitt
| Decision Date | 19 February 1936 |
| Docket Number | No. 23350.,23350. |
| Citation | 200 N.E. 332,362 Ill. 534 |
| Parties | PEOPLE v. CLAMPITT. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Error to Hancock County Court; J. Arthur Baird, Judge.
Paul Clampitt was convicted of driving an automobile while intoxicated, and he brings error.
Reversed and remanded.
Edward S. Martin, of Carthage, for plaintiff in error.
Otto Kerner, Atty. Gen., Louis L. Irwin, State's Atty., of Carthage, and A. B. Dennis, of Danville, for the People.
This writ of error is sued out to review a judgment of the county court of Hancock county in which court plaintiff in error was found guilty on an information charging him with driving an automobile while intoxicated.
Before the trial, the county judge entered an order directing a venire to issue for twenty jurors and ordered the clerk to issue it to the coroner of the county. Plaintiff in error filed a written challenge to the array, contending that the court had no power to issue the venire to the coroner, as the sheriff was not disqualified. This motion was overruled. Before the cause was tried, an oral motion raising the same question was made. In this motion it was contended that the statute authorizing the court's action is unconstitutional. The sheriff testified that he was present in court the day the venire was issued, was not related to plaintiff in error, was not interested in the matter, and was not otherwise disqualified under the statute to serve the venire. This motion was also overruled. Upon a trial of the cause plaintiff in error was found guilty, was sentenced to the State Farm at Vandalia for a period of six months, and fined $100 and costs.
Plaintiff in error contends that the construction placed upon the County Court Act by the trial court renders it unconstitutional. He also raises questions as to the instructions and the sufficiency of the evidence.
The County Court Act provides, in substance, that under the circumstances therein set forth the judge shall issue a venire for not less than twelve nor more than twenty-four competent jurors, as the court shall direct, and deliver the same to the sheriff or coroner who shall summon such jurors from the body of the county, etc. Smith-Hurd Ann.St. c. 37, § 282; Ill.Rev.Stat.1935, c. 37, par. 309. The county court construed this statute as giving him the option of delivering the venire to either one of the officers named.
When two constructions of a statute are possible, one of which would render it invalid and the other sustain it, that construction will be adopted which validates the act. Baker v. Baker, 258 Ill. 418, 101 N.E. 587. Statutes relating to the same subject-matter, being in pari materia, will be construed together as if they were one statute. People v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Co., 306 Ill. 459, 138 N.E. 196;People v. Wallace, 291 Ill. 465, 126 N.E. 175;People v. Cowen, 283 Ill. 308, 119 N.E. 335. Both the sheriff and the coroner are constitutional officers. Const. § 8, art. 10. The act concerning coroners provides for the occasions when that officer shall act in place of the sheriff in the following language: ‘When it appears from the papers in a case that the sheriff or his deputy is a party thereto, or from affidavit filed that he is interested therein, or is of kin, or partial to or prejudiced against either party, the summons, execution or other process may be directed to the coroner, who shall perform all the duties in relation thereto, and attend to the suit in like manner as if he were sheriff; and the interests, consanguinity,...
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